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Oeo.  Daren  Putnam 


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rice 


Author  of  "  B-^ks  jD«-i  TUv  N-  ••. 

Abraham  Lincoln 

From  the  portrait  by  Marshall 


?it,  IQI& 
the  New    York  Bar, 


New    York   ape!   i 
Cbe    fjrttchcrbocfter 


Abraham  Lincoln 

f 

The  People's  Leader  in  the  Struggle  for 
National  Existence 


By 
George  Haven  Putnam,  Litt.  D. 

Author  of  "  Books  and  Their  Makers  in  the  Middle  Ages," 
"  The  Censorship  of  the  Church,"  etc. 


With  the  above  is  included  the  speech  delivered  by  Lincoln  in 
New  York,  February  27,  1 860 ;  with  an  introduction  by 
Charles  C.  Nott,  late  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Claims, 
and  annotations  by  Judge  Nott  and  by  Cephas  Brainerd  of 
the  New  York  Bar. 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New    York  and  London 

tlbe   Umfcfcerbocfcer 

1910 


COPYRIGHT,  1909 

BY 

GEORGE  HAVEN  PUTNAM 

Published,  November,  1909 
Reprinted,  March,  1910 


ttb«  "ftnicfterbocfter  PTCM,  Hew  fforft 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

THE  twelfth  of  February,  1909,  was  the  hun 
dredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abraham 
Lincoln.  In  New  York,  as  in  other  cities  and 
towns  throughout  the  Union,  the  day  was  devoted 
to  commemoration  exercises,  and  even  in  the 
South,  in  centres  like  Atlanta  (the  capture  of 
which  in  1864  had  indicated  the  collapse  of  the 
cause  of  the  Confederacy),  representative  South 
erners  gave  their  testimony  to  the  life  and  charac 
ter  of  the  great  American. 

The  Committee  in  charge  of  the  commemoration 
in  New  York  arranged  for  a  series  of  addresses 
to  be  given  to  the  people  of  the  city  and  it  was 
my  privilege  to  be  selected  as  one  of  the  speakers. 
It  was  an  indication  of  the  rapid  passing  away 
of  the  generation  which  had  had  to  do  with  the 
events  of  the  War,  that  the  list  of  orators,  forty- 
six  in  all,  included  only  four  men  who  had  ever 
seen  the  hero  whose  life  and  character  they  were 
describing. 

In  writing  out  later,  primarily  for  the  informa 
tion  of  children  and  grandchildren,  my  own 

iii 


225210 


iv  Introductory  Note 

address  (which  had  been  delivered  without  notes) , 
I  found  myself  so  far  absorbed  in  the  interest  of 
the  subject  and  in  the  recollections  of  the  War 
period,  that  I  was  impelled  to  expand  the  paper 
so  that  it  should  present  a  more  comprehensive 
study  of  the  career  and  character  of  Lincoln 
than  it  had  been  possible  to  attempt  within  the 
compass  of  an  hour's  talk,  and  should  include 
also  references,  in  outline,  to  the  constitutional 
struggle  that  had  preceded  the  contest  and  to  the 
chief  events  of  the  War  itself  with  which  the  great 
War  President  had  been  most  directly  concerned. 
The  monograph,  therefore,  while  in  the  form  of 
an  essay  or  historical  sketch,  retains  in  certain 
portions  the  character  of  the  spoken  address  with 
which  it  originated. 

It  is  now  brought  into  print  in  the  hope  that 
it  may  be  found  of  interest  for  certain  readers 
of  the  younger  generation  and  may  serve  as  an 
incentive  to  the  reading  of  the  fuller  histories 
of  the  War  period,  and  particularly  of  the  best 
of  the  biographies  of  the  great  American  whom 
we  honour  as  the  People's  leader. 

I  have  been  fortunate  enough  to  secure  (only, 
however,  after  this  monograph  had  been  put  into 
type)  a  copy  of  the  pamphlet  printed  in  Septem 
ber,  1860,  by  the  Young  Men's  Republican  Union 


Introductory  Note  v 

of  New  York,  in  which  is  presented  the  text,  as 
revised  by  the  speaker,  of  the  address  given  by 
Lincoln  at  the  Cooper  Institute  in  February, — the 
address  which  made  him  President. 

This  edition  of  the  speech,  prepared  for  use  in 
the  Presidential  campaign,  contains  a  series  of 
historical  annotations  by  Cephas  Brain erd  of  the 
New  York  Bar  and  Charles  C.  Nott,  who  later 
rendered  further  distinguished  service  to  his 
country  as  Colonel  of  the  1 7 6th  Regiment,  N.  Y.  S. 
Volunteers,  and  (after  the  close  of  the  War)  as 
chief  justice  of  the  Court  of  Claims. 

These  young  lawyers  (not  yet  leaders  of  the 
Bar)  appear  to  have  realised  at  once  that  the 
speech  was  to  constitute  the  platform  upon  which 
the  issues  of  the  Presidential  election  were  to  be 
contested.  Not  being  prophets,  they  were,  of 
course,  not  in  a  position  to  know  that  the  same 
statements  were  to  represent  the  contentions 
of  the  North  upon  which  the  Civil  War  was  fought 
out. 

I  am  able  to  include,  with  the  scholarly  notes  of 
the  two  lawyers,  a  valuable  introduction  to  the 
speech,  written  (as  late  as  February,  1908)  by 
Judge  Nott;  together  with  certain  letters  which 
in  February,  1860,  passed  between  him  (as  the 
representative  of  the  Committee)  and  Mr.  Lincoln. 


vi  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  introduction  and  the  letters  have  never  be 
fore  been  published,  and  (as  is  the  case  also  with 
the  material  of  the  notes)  are  now  in  print  only 
in  the  present  volume. 

I  judge,  therefore,  that  I  may  be  doing  a  service 
to  the  survivors  of  the  generation  of  1860  and 
also  to  the  generations  that  have  grown  up  since 
the  War,  by  utilising  the  occasion  of  the  publica 
tion  of  my  own  little  monograph  for  the  reprinting 
of  these  notes  in  a  form  for  permanent  preserva 
tion  and  for  reference  on  the  part  of  students  of 
the  history  of  the  Republic. 

G.  H.  P. 

NEW  YORK,  April  2,  1909. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

I.     THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  MAN         .          .         i 

II.     WORK  AT  THE  BAR  AND  ENTRANCE  INTO 

POLITICS 12 

III.  THE  FIGHT  AGAINST  THE  EXTENSION  OF 

SLAVERY  .....        29 

IV.  LINCOLN  AS  PRESIDENT  ORGANISES  THE 

PEOPLE    FOR   THE    MAINTENANCE    OF 
NATIONAL  EXISTENCE        ...       53 

V.     THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR        .       76 
VI.     THE  DARK  DAYS  OF  1862      .          .          .     in 

VII.     THE  THIRD  AND  CRUCIAL  YEAR  OF  THE 

WAR       ......     130 

VIII.     THE  FINAL  CAMPAIGN  .          .         .149 

IX.     LINCOLN'S  TASK  ENDED        .          .          .179 

APPENDIX  -  -  LINCOLN'S     COOPER     INSTITUTE 

ADDRESS: 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTE  ....      207 

CORRESPONDENCE    WITH   ROBERT    LIN 
COLN,  NOTT,  AND  BRAINERD       .          .      209 

INTRODUCTION  .....  215 
CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  LINCOLN  .  .  223 
TITLE  PAGE  OF  ORIGINAL  ISSUE  .  .  231 


viii  Contents 

APPENDIX — Continued : 


PAGB 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  UNION   .  232 

PREFACE  TO  THE  LINCOLN  ADDRESS       .  233 

THE  COOPER  INSTITUTE  ADDRESS  .  235 

NOTES        ......  267 

INDEX 289 


Abraham  Lincoln 


Abraham  Lincoln 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  MAN 

ON  the  twelfth  of  February,  1909,  the  hun 
dredth  anniversary  of  the  birth  of  Abraham 
Lincoln,  Americans  gathered  together,  through 
out  the  entire  country,  to  honour  the  memory 
of  a  great  American,  one  who  may  come  to  be 
accepted  as  the  greatest  of  Americans.  It  was 
in  every  way  fitting  that  this  honour  should  be 
rendered  to  Abraham  Lincoln  and  that,  on  such 
commemoration  day,  his  fellow-citizens  should 
not  fail  to  bear  also  in  honoured  memory  the 
thousands  of  other  good  Americans  who  like 
Lincoln  gave  their  lives  for  their  country  and 
without  whose  loyal  devotion  Lincoln's  leadership 
would  have  been  in  vain. 

The  chief  purpose,  however,  as  I  understand, 
of  a  memorial  service  is  not  so  much  to  glorify 


2  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  dead  as  to  enlighten  and  inspire  the  living. 
We  borrow  the  thought  of  his  own  Gettysburg 
address  (so  eloquent  in  its  exquisite  simplicity) 
when  we  say  that  no  words  of  ours  can  add  any 
glory  to  the  name  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  His 
work  is  accomplished.  His  fame  is  secure.  It  is 
for  us,  his  fellow-citizens,  for  the  older  men  who 
had  personal  touch  with  the  great  struggle  in  which 
Lincoln  was  the  nation's  leader,  for  the  younger 
men  who  have  grown  up  in  the  generation  since 
the  War,  and  for  the  children  by  whom  are  to 
be  handed  down  through  the  new  century  the 
great  traditions  of  the  Republic,  to  secure  from 
the  life  and  character  of  our  great  leader  incentive, 
illumination,  and  inspiration  to  good  citizenship, 
in  order  that  Lincoln  and  his  fellow-martyrs 
shall  not  have  died  in  vain. 

It  is  possible  within  the  limits  of  this  paper 
simply  to  touch  upon  the  chief  events  and  expe 
riences  in  Lincoln's  life.  It  has  been  my  endeav 
our  to  select  those  that  were  the  most  important 
in  the  forming  or  in  the  expression  of  his  character. 
The  term  "forming"  is,  however,  not  adequate 
to  indicate  the  development  of  a  personality 
like  Lincoln's.  We  rather  think  of  his  sturdy 
character  as  having  been  forged  into  its  final 
form  through  the  fiery  furnace  of  fierce  struggle, 


The  Evolution  of  the  Man  3 

as  hammered  out  under  the  blows  of  difficulties 
and  disasters,  and  as  pressed  beneath  the  weight 
of  the  nation's  burdens,  until  was  at  last  produced 
the  finely  tempered  nature  of  the  man  we  know, 
the  Lincoln  of  history,  that  exquisite  combination 
of  sweetness  of  nature  and  strength  of  character. 
The  type  is  described  in  Schiller's  Song  of  the 
Founding  of  the  Bell : 

Denn,  wo  das  strenge  mit  dem  zarten, 
Wo  mildes  sich  und  starkes  paarten, 
Da  giebt  es  einen  guten  Klang. 

There  is  a  tendency  to  apply  the  term  "miracu 
lous"  to  the  career  of  every  hero,  and  in  a  sense 
such  description  is,  of  course,  true.  The  life  of 
every  man,  however  restricted  its  range,  is  some 
thing  of  a  miracle ;  but  the  course  of  a  single  life, 
like  that  of  humanity,  is  assuredly  based  on  a 
development  that  proceeds  from  a  series  of  causa 
tions.  Holmes  says  that  the  education  of  a  man 
begins  two  centuries  before  his  birth.  We  may 
recall  in  this  connection  that  Lincoln  came  of 
good  stock.  It  is  true  that  his  parents  belonged 
to  the  class  of  poor  whites;  but  the  Lincoln 
family  can  be  traced  from  an  eastern  county 
of  England  (we  might  hope  for  the  purpose  of 
genealogical  harmony  that  the  county  was  Lin- 


4  Abraham  Lincoln 

colnshire)  to  Hingham  in  Massachusetts,  and  by 
way  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia  to  Kentucky. 
The  grandfather  of  our  Abraham  was  killed, 
while  working  in  his  field  on  the  Kentucky  farm, 
by  predatory  Indians  shooting  from  the  cover 
of  the  dense  forest.  Abraham's  father,  Thomas, 
at  that  time  a  boy,  was  working  in  the  field  where 
his  father  was  murdered.  Such  an  incident  in 
Kentucky  simply  repeated  what  had  been  going 
on  just  a  century  before  in  Massachusetts,  at 
Deerfield  and  at  dozens  of  other  settlements 
on  the  edge  of  the  great  forest  which  was  the 
home  of  the  Indians.  During  the  hundred  years, 
the  frontier  of  the  white  man's  domain  had  been 
moved  a  thousand  miles  to  the  south-west  and, 
as  ever,  there  was  still  friction  at  the  point  of 
contact. 

The  record  of  the  boyhood  of  our  Lincoln  has 
been  told  in  dozens  of  forms  and  in  hundreds 
of  monographs.  We  know  of  the  simplicity,  of 
the  penury,  of  the  family  life  in  the  little  one- 
roomed  log  hut  that  formed  the  home  for  the 
first  ten  years  of  Abraham's  life.  We  know  of  his 
little  group  of  books  collected  with  toil  and  self- 
sacrifice.  The  series,  after  some  years  of  stren 
uous  labour,  comprised  the  Bible,  ^Esop's  Fables, 
a  tattered  copy  of  Euclid's  Geometry,  and  Weems's 


The  Evolution  of  the  Man  5 

Life  of  Washington.  The  Euclid  he  had  secured 
as  a  great  prize  from  the  son  of  a  neighbour 
ing  farmer.  Abraham  had  asked  the  boy  the 
meaning  of  the  word  "demonstrate. "  His  friend 
said  that  he  did  not  himself  know,  but  that 
he  knew  the  word  was  in  a  book  which  he  had 
at  school,  and  he  hunted  up  the  Euclid.  After 
some  bargaining,  the  Euclid  came  into  Abra 
ham's  possession.  In  accordance  with  his  prac 
tice,  the  whole  contents  were  learned  by  heart. 
Abraham's  later  opponents  at  the  Bar  or  in 
political  discussion  came  to  realise  that  he  under 
stood  the  meaning  of  the  w^ord  ''demonstrate." 
In  fact,  references  to  specific  problems  of  Euclid 
occurred  in  some  of  his  earlier  speeches  at  the 
Bar. 

A  year  or  more  later,  when  the  Lincoln  family 
had  crossed  the  river  to  Indiana,  there  was  added 
to  the  "library"  a  copy  of  the  revised  Statutes 
of  the  State.  The  Weems's  Washington  had  been 
borrowed  by  Lincoln  from  a  neighbouring  farmer. 
The  boy  kept  it  at  night  under  his  pillow,  and 
on  the  occasion  of  a  storm,  the  water  blew  in 
through  the  chinks  of  the  logs  that  formed  the 
wall  of  the  cabin,  drenching  the  pillow  and  the 
head  of  the  boy  (a  small  matter  in  itself)  and 
wetting  and  almost  spoiling  the  book.  This  was 


6  Abraham  Lincoln 

a  grave  misfortune.  Lincoln  took  his  damaged 
volume  to  the  owner  and  asked  how  he  could 
make  payment  for  the  loss.  It  was  arranged 
that  the  boy  should  put  in  three  days'  work  shuck 
ing  corn  on  the  farm.  "Will  that  work  pay  for 
the  book  or  only  for  the  damage?"  asked  the 
boy.  It  was  agreed  that  the  labour  of  three  days 
should  be  considered  sufficient  for  the  purchase 
of  the  book. 

The  text  of  this  biography  and  the  words  of 
each  valued  volume  in  the  little  " library"  were 
absorbed  into  the  memory  of  the  reader.  It  was 
his  practice  when  going  into  the  field  for  work, 
to  take  with  him  written-out  paragraphs  from 
the  book  that  he  had  at  the  moment  in  mind  and 
to  repeat  these  paragraphs  between  the  various 
chores  or  between  the  wood-chopping  until  every 
page  was  committed  by  heart.  Paper  was  scarce 
and  dear  and  for  the  boy  unattainable.  He 
used  for  his  copying  bits  of  board  shaved  smooth 
with  his  jack-knife.  This  material  had  the  ad 
vantage  that  when  the  task  of  one  day  had  been 
mastered,  a  little  labour  with  the  jack-knife 
prepared  the  surface  of  the  board  for  the  work 
of  the  next  day.  As  I  read  this  incident  in  Lin 
coln's  boyhood,  I  was  reminded  of  an  experience 
of  my  own  in  Louisiana.  It  happened  frequently 


The  Evolution  of  the  Man  7 

during  the  campaign  of  1863  that  our  supplies 
were  cut  off  through  the  capture  of  our  waggon 
trains  by  that  active  Confederate  commander, 
General  Taylor.  More  than  once,  we  were  short 
of  provisions,  and,  in  one  instance,  a  supply  of 
stationery  for  which  the  adjutants  of  the  brigade 
had  been  waiting,  was  carried  off  to  serve  the 
needs  of  our  opponents.  We  tore  down  a  con 
venient  and  unnecessary  shed  and  utilised  from 
the  roof  the  shingles,  the  clean  portions  of  which 
made  an  admirable  substitute  for  paper.  For 
some  days,  the  morning  reports  of  the  brigade 
were  filed  on  shingles. 

Lincoln's  work  as  a  farm-hand  was  varied  by 
two  trips  down  the  river  to  New  Orleans.  The 
opportunity  had  been  offered  to  the  young  man 
by  the  neighbouring  store-keeper,  Gentry,  to 
take  part  in  the  trip  of  a  flat-boat  which  carried 
the  produce  of  the  county  to  New  Orleans,  to  be 
there  sold  in  exchange  for  sugar  or  rum.  Lincoln 
was,  at  the  time  of  these  trips,  already  familiar 
with  certain  of  the  aspects  and  conditions  of 
slavery,  but  the  inspection  of  the  slave-market 
in  New  Orleans  stamped  upon  his  sensitive  im 
agination  a  fresh  and  more  sombre  picture,  and 
made  a  lasting  impression  of  the  iniquity  and 
horror  of  the  institution.  From  the  time  of  his 


8  Abraham  Lincoln 

early  manhood,  Lincoln  hated  slavery.  What 
was  exceptional,  however,  in  his  state  of  mind 
was  that,  while  abominating  the  institution,  he 
was  able  to  give  a  sympathetic  understanding 
to  the  opinions  and  to  the  prejudices  of  the 
slave-owners.  In  all  his  long  fight  against  slavery 
as  the  curse  both  of  the  white  and  of  the  black, 
and  as  the  great  obstacle  to  the  natural  and  whole 
some  development  of  the  nation,  we  do  not  at 
any  time  find  a  trace  of  bitterness  against  the 
men  of  the  South  who  were  endeavouring  to 
maintain  and  to  extend  the  system. 

It  was  of  essential  importance  for  the  develop 
ment  of  Lincoln  as  a  political  leader,  first  for  his 
State,  and  later  in  the  contest  that  became 
national,  that  he  should  have  possessed  an  under 
standing,  which  was  denied  to  many  of  the  anti- 
slavery  leaders,  of  the  actual  nature,  character, 
and  purpose  of  the  men  against  whom  he  was 
contending.  It  became  of  larger  importance  when 
Lincoln  was  directing  from  Washington  the  policy 
of  the  national  administration  that  he  should  have 
a  sympathetic  knowledge  of  the  problems  of 
the  men  of  the  Border  States  who  with  the 
outbreak  of  the  War  had  been  placed  in  a  position 
of  exceptional  difficulty,  and  that  he  should  have 
secured  and  retained  the  confidence  of  these 


The  Evolution  of  the  Man  9 

men.  It  seems  probable  that  if  the  War  President 
had  been  a  man  of  Northern  birth  and  Northern 
prejudices,  if  he  had  been  one  to  whom  the  wider, 
the  more  patient  and  sympathetic  view  of  these 
problems  had  been  impossible  or  difficult,  the 
Border  States  could  not  have  been  saved  to  the 
Union.  It  is  probable  that  the  support  given  to 
the  cause  of  the  North  by  the  sixty  thousand  or 
seventy  thousand  loyal  recruits  from  Missouri, 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Maryland,  and  Virginia, 
may  even  have  proved  the  deciding  factor  in 
turning  the  tide  of  events.  The  nation's  leader 
for  the  struggle  seems  to  have  been  secured  through 
a  process  of  natural  selection  as  had  been  the  case 
a  century  earlier  with  Washington.  We  may 
recall  that  Washington  died  but  ten  years  before 
Lincoln  was  born;  and  from  the  fact  that  each 
leader  was  at  hand  when  the  demand  came  for  his 
service,  and  when  without  such  service  the  nation 
might  have  been  pressed  to  destruction,  we  may 
grasp  the  hope  that  in  time  of  need  the  nation 
will  always  be  provided  with  the  leader  who  can 
meet  the  requirement. 

After  Lincoln  returned  from  New  Orleans,  he 
secured  employment  for  a  time  in  the  grocery  or 
general  store  of  Gentry,  and  when  he  was  twenty- 
two  years  of  age,  he  went  into  business  with  a 


io  Abraham  Lincoln 

partner,  some  twenty  years  older  than  himself, 
in  carrying  on  such  a  store.  He  had  so  impressed 
himself  upon  the  confidence  of  his  neighbours 
that,  while  he  was  absolutely  without  resources, 
there  was  no  difficulty  in  his  borrowing  the  money 
required  for  his  share  of  the  capital.  The  under 
taking  did  not  prove  a  success.  Lincoln  had 
no  business  experience  and  no  particular  business 
capacity,  while  his  partner  proved  to  be  untrust 
worthy.  The  partner  decamped,  leaving  Lincoln 
to  close  up  the  business  and  to  take  the  respon 
sibility  for  the  joint  indebtedness.  It  was  seven 
teen  years  before  Lincoln  was  able,  from  his 
modest  earnings  as  a  lawyer,  to  clear  off  this 
indebtedness.  The  debt  became  outlawed  in 
six  years'  time  but  this  could  not  affect  Lincoln's 
sense  of  the  obligation.  After  the  failure  of 
the  business,  Lincoln  secured  work  as  county 
surveyor.  In  this,  he  was  following  the  example 
of  his  predecessor  Washington,  with  whose  career 
as  a  surveyor  the  youngster  who  knew  Weems's 
biography  by  heart,  was  of  course  familiar. 
His  new  occupation  took  him  through  the  county 
and  brought  him  into  personal  relations  with  a 
much  wider  circle  than  he  had  known  in  the 
village  of  New  Salem,  and  in  his  case,  the  personal 
relation  counted  for  much ;  the  history  shows  that 


The  Evolution  of  the  Man          1 1 

no  one  who  knew  Lincoln  failed  to  be  attracted 
by  him  or  to  be  impressed  with  the  fullest  confi 
dence  in  the  man's  integrity  of  purpose  and  of 
action. 


II 

WORK  AT  THE   BAR  AND  ENTRANCE   INTO   POLITICS 

IN  1834,  when  he  was  twenty -five  years  old, 
Lincoln  made  his  first  entrance  into  politics, 
presenting  himself  as  candidate  for  the  Assembly. 
His  defeat  was  not  without  compensations;  he 
secured  in  his  own  village  or  township,  New  Salem, 
no  less  than  208  out  of  the  211  votes  cast.  This 
prophet  had  honour  with  those  who  knew  him. 
Two  years  later,  he  tried  again  and  this  time  with 
success.  His  journeys  as  a  surveyor  had  brought 
him  into  touch  with,  and  into  the  confidence  of, 
enough  voters  throughout  the  county  to  secure 
the  needed  majority. 

Lincoln's  active  work  as  a  lawyer  lasted  from 
1834  to  1860,  or  for  about  twenty-six  years. 
He  secured  in  the  cases  undertaken  by  him  a  very 
large  proportion  of  successful  decisions.  Such  a 
result  is  not  entirely  to  be  credited  to  his  effective 
ness  as  an  advocate.  The  first  reason  was  that 
in  his  individual  work,  that  is  to  say,  in  the  matters 
that  were  taken  up  by  himself  rather  than  by  his 


Work  at  the  Bar  13 

partner,  he  accepted  no  case  in  the  justice  of 
which  he  did  not  himself  have  full  confidence. 
As  his  fame  as  an  advocate  increased,  he  was 
approached  by  an  increasing  number  of  clients 
who  wanted  the  advantage  of  the  effective  service 
of  the  young  lawyer  and  also  of  his  assured 
reputation  for  honesty  of  statement  and  of  man 
agement.  Unless,  however,  he  believed  in  the 
case,  he  put  such  suggestions  to  one  side  even 
at  the  time  when  the  income  was  meagre  and 
when  every  dollar  was  of  importance. 

Lincoln's  record  at  the  Bar  has  been  somewhat 
obscured  by  the  value  of  his  public  service,  but 
as  it  comes  to  be  studied,  it  is  shown  to  have  been 
both  distinctive  and  important.  His  law-books 
were,  like  those  of  his  original  library,  few,  but 
whatever  volumes  he  had  of  his  own  and  whatever 
he  was  able  to  place  his  hands  upon  from  the 
shelves  of  his  friends,  he  mastered  thoroughly. 
His  work  at  the  Bar  gave  evidence  of  his  excep 
tional  powers  of  reasoning  while  it  was  itself  also 
a  large  influence  in  the  development  of  such 
powers.  The  counsel  who  practised  with  and 
against  him,  the  judges  before  whom  his  argu 
ments  were  presented,  and  the  members  of  the 
juries,  the  hard-headed  working  citizens  of  the 
State,  seem  to  have  all  been  equally  impressed 


14  Abraham  Lincoln 

with  the  exceptional  fairness  with  which  the 
young  lawyer  presented  not  only  his  own  case 
but  that  of  his  opponent.  He  had  great  tact  in 
holding  his  friends,  in  convincing  those  who  did 
not  agree  with  him,  and  in  winning  over  oppo 
nents;  but  he  gave  no  futile  effort  to  tasks  which 
his  judgment  convinced  him  would  prove  impos 
sible.  He  never,  says  Horace  Porter,  citing 
Lincoln's  words,  "wasted  any  time  in  trying  to 
massage  the  back  of  a  political  porcupine."  "A 
man  might  as  well,"  says  Lincoln,  "under 
take  to  throw  fleas  across  the  barnyard  with  a 
shovel." 

He  had  as  a  youngster  won  repute  as  a  teller 
of  dramatic  stories,  and  those  who  listened  to 
his  arguments  in  court  were  expecting  to  have 
his  words  to  the  jury  brightened  and  rendered 
for  the  moment  more  effective  by  such  stories. 
The  hearers  were  often  disappointed  in  such 
expectation.  Neither  at  the  Bar,  nor,  it  may  be 
said  here,  in  his  later  work  as  a  political  leader, 
did  Lincoln  indulge  himself  in  the  telling  a  story 
for  the  sake  of  the  story,  nor  for  the  sake  of  the 
laugh  to  be  raised  by  the  story,  nor  for  the  mo 
mentary  pleasure  or  possible  temporary  advantage 
of  the  discomfiture  of  the  opponent.  The  story 
was  used,  whether  in  law  or  in  politics,  only 


Work  at  the  Bar  15 

when  it  happened  to  be  the  shortest  and  most 
effective  method  of  making  clear  an  issue  or  of 
illustrating  a  statement.  In  later  years,  when 
he  had  upon  him  the  terrible  burdens  of  the  great 
struggle,  Lincoln  used  stories  from  time  to  time 
as  a  vent  to  his  feelings.  The  impression  given 
was  that  by  an  effort  of  will  and  in  order  to  keep 
his  mind  from  dwelling  too  continuously  upon 
the  tremendous  problems  upon  which  he  was 
engaged,  he  would,  by  the  use  of  some  humorous 
reminiscence,  set  his  thoughts  in  a  direction  as 
different  as  possible  from  that  of  his  cares.  A 
third  and  very  valuable  use  of  the  story  which 
grew  up  in  his  Washington  days  was  to  turn 
aside  some  persistent  but  impossible  application; 
and  to  give  to  the  applicant,  with  the  least 
risk  of  unnecessary  annoyance  to  his  feelings, 
the  "no"  that  was  necessary.  It  is  doubtless 
also  the  case  that,  as  has  happened  to  other 
men  gifted  with  humour,  Lincoln's  reputation 
as  a  story-teller  caused  to  be  ascribed  to  him  a 
great  series  of  anecdotes  and  incidents  of  one 
kind  or  another,  some  of  which  would  have  been 
entirely  outside  of,  and  inconsistent  with,  his 
own  standard  and  his  own  method.  There  is  the 
further  and  final  word  to  be  said  about  Lincoln's 
stories,  that  they  were  entitled  to  the  geometrical 


1 6  Abraham  Lincoln 

commendation  of  ' '  being  neither  too  long  nor  too 
broad." 

In  1846,  Lincoln  was  elected  to  Congress  as  a 
Whig.  The  circle  of  acquaintances  whom  he  had 
made  in  the  county  as  surveyor  had  widened  out 
with  his  work  as  a  lawyer;  he  secured  a  unani 
mous  nomination  and  was  elected  without  difficulty 
in  a  constituency  comprising  six  counties.  I  find 
in  the  record  of  the  campaign  the  detail  that  Lin 
coln  returned  to  certain  of  his  friends  who  had 
undertaken  to  find  the  funds  for  election  expenses, 
$199.90  out  of  the  $200  subscribed. 

In  1847,  Lincoln  was  one  of  the  group  of  Whigs 
in  Congress  who  opposed  the  Mexican  War.  These 
men  took  the  ground  that  the  war  was  one  of 
aggression  and  spoliation.  Their  views,  which 
were  quite  prevalent  throughout  New  England, 
are  effectively  presented  in  Lowell's  Biglow 
Papers.  When  the  army  was  once  in  the  field, 
Lincoln  was,  however,  ready  to  give  his  Congres 
sional  vote  for  the  fullest  and  most  energetic  sup 
port.  A  year  or  more  later,  he  worked  actively 
for  the  election  of  General  Taylor.  He  took  the 
ground  that  the  responsibility  for  the  war  rested 
not  with  the  soldiers  who  had  fought  it  to  a  suc 
cessful  conclusion,  but  with  the  politicians  who 
had  devised  the  original  land-grabbing  scheme. 


Entrance  into  Politics  17 

In  1849,  we  find  Lincoln's  name  connected 
with  an  invention  for  lifting  vessels  over  shoals. 
His  sojourn  on  the  Sangamon  River  and  his 
memory  of  the  attempt,  successful  for  the  moment 
but  ending  in  failure,  to  make  the  river  available 
for  steamboats,  had  attracted  his  attention  to 
the  problem  of  steering  river  vessels  over  shoals. 
In  1864,  when  I  was  campaigning  on  the  Red 
River  in  Louisiana,  I  noticed  with  interest  a 
device  that  had  been  put  into  shape  for  the  purpose 
of  lifting  river  steamers  over  shoals.  This  device 
took  the  form  of  stilts  which  for  the  smaller 
vessels  (and  only  the  smaller  steamers  could 
as  a  rule  be  managed  in  this  way)  were  fastened 
on  pivots  from  the  upper  deck  on  the  outside 
of  the  hull  and  were  worked  from  the  deck  with 
a  force  of  two  or  three  men  at  each  stilt.  The 
difficulty  on  the  Red  River  was  that  the  Rebel 
sharp-shooters  from  the  banks  made  the  manage 
ment  of  the  stilts  irregular. 

In  1854,  Douglas  carried  through  Congress 
the  Kansas- Nebraska  Bill.  This  bill  repealed 
the  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  and  cancelled 
also  the  provisions  of  the  series  of  compromises 
of  1850.  Its  purpose  was  to  throw  open  for 
settlement  and  for  later  organisation  as  Slave 
States  the  whole  territory  of  the  North-west  from 


i8  Abraham  Lincoln 

which,  under  the  Missouri  Compromise,  slavery 
had  been  excluded.  The  Kansas- Nebraska  Bill 
not  only  threw  open  a  great  territory  to  slavery 
but  re-opened  the  whole  slavery  discussion.  The 
issues  that  were  brought  to  the  front  in  the  dis 
cussions  about  this  bill,  and  in  the  still  more 
bitter  contests  after  the  passage  of  the  bill  in 
regard  to  the  admission  of  Kansas  as  a  Slave 
State,  were  the  immediate  precursors  of  the  Civil 
War.  The  larger  causes  lay  further  back,  but 
the  War  would  have  been  postponed  for  an  inde 
finite  period  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  pressing 
on  the  part  of  the  South  for  the  right  to  make 
Slave  States  throughout  the  entire  territory  of 
the  country,  and  for  the  readiness  on  the  part 
of  certain  Democratic  leaders  of  the  North,  of 
whom  Douglas  was  the  chief,  to  accept  this  con 
tention,  and  through  such  expedients  to  gain, 
or  to  retain,  political  control  for  the  Democratic 
party. 

In  one  of  the  long  series  of  debates  in  Congress 
on  the  question  of  the  right  to  take  slaves  into 
free  territory,  a  planter  from  South  Carolina 
drew  an  affecting  picture  of  his  relations  with 
his  old  coloured  foster-mother,  the  " mammy" 
of  the  plantation.  "Do  you  tell  me,"  he  said, 
addressing  himself  to  a  Free-soil  opponent,  "that 


Entrance  into  Politics  19 

I,  a  free  American  citizen,  am  not  to  be  permitted, 
if  I  want  to  go  across  the  Missouri  River,  to  take 
with  me  my  whole  home  circle?  Do  you  say 
that  I  must  leave  my  old  '  Mammy '  behind  in 
South  Carolina  ? "  ' '  Oh ! "  replied  the  Westerner, 
"the  trouble  with  you  is  not  that  you  cannot 
take  your  'Mammy'  into  this  free  territory, 
but  that  you  are  not  to  be  at  liberty  to  sell  her 
when  you  get  her  there. " 

Lincoln  threw  himself  with  full  earnestness  of 
conviction  and  ardour  into  the  fight  to  preserve 
for  freedom  the  territory  belonging  to  the  nation. 
In  common  with  the  majority  of  the  Whig  party, 
he  held  the  opinion  that  if  slavery  could  be  re 
stricted  to  the  States  in  which  it  was  already  in 
existence,  if  no  further  States  should  be  admitted 
into  the  Union  with  the  burden  of  slavery,  the 
institution  must,  in  the  course  of  a  generation 
or  two,  die  out.  He  was  clear  in  his  mind  that 
slavery  was  an  enormous  evil  for  the  whites 
as  well  as  for  the  blacks,  for  the  individual  as 
for  the  nation.  He  had  himself,  as  a  young  man, 
been  brought  up  to  do  toilsome  manual  labour. 
He  would  not  admit  that  there  was  anything  in 
manual  labour  that  ought  to  impair  the  respect 
of  the  community  for  the  labourer  or  the  worker's 
respect  for  himself.  Not  the  least  of  the  evils  of 


20  Abraham  Lincoln 

slavery  was,  in  his  judgment,  its  inevitable  in 
fluence  in  bringing  degradation  upon  labour  and 
the  labourer. 

The  passage  of  the  Kansas-Nebraska  Act  made 
clear  to  the  North  that  the  South  would  accept 
no  limitations  for  slavery.  The  position  of  the 
Southern  leaders,  in  which  they  had  the  substan 
tial  backing  of  their  constituents,  was  that  slaves 
were  property  and  that  the  Constitution,  having 
guaranteed  the  protection  of  property  to  all  the 
citizens  of  the  commonwealth,  a  slaveholder 
was  deprived  of  his  constitutional  rights  as  a 
citizen  if  his  control  of  this  portion  of  his  property 
was  in  any  way  interfered  with  or  restricted. 
The  argument  in  behalf  of  this  extreme  Southern 
claim  had  been  shaped  most  eloquently  and 
most  forcibly  by  John  C.  Calhoun  during  the  years 
between  1830  and  1850.  The  Calhoun  opinion 
was  represented  a  few  years  later  in  the  Presi 
dential  candidacy  of  John  C.  Breckinridge.  The 
contention  of  the  more  extreme  of  the  Northern 
opponents  of  slavery  voters,  whose  spokesmen 
were  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  Wendell  Phillips, 
James  G.  Birney,  Owen  Lovejoy,  and  others, 
was  that  the  Constitution  in  so  far  as  it  recognised 
slavery  (which  it  did  only  by  implication)  was  a 
compact  with  evil.  They  held  that  the  Fathers 


Entrance  into  Politics  21 

had  been  led  into  this  compact  unwittingly  and 
without  full  realisation  of  the  responsibilities  that 
they  were  assuming  for  the  perpetuation  of  a 
great  wrong.  They  refused  to  accept  the  view 
that  later  generations  of  American  citizens  were 
to  be  bound  for  an  indefinite  period  by  this  error 
of  judgment  on  the  part  of  the  Fathers.  They 
proposed  to  get  rid  of  slavery,  as  an  institution 
incompatible  with  the  principles  on  which  the 
Republic  was  founded.  They  pointed  out  that 
under  the  Declaration  of  Independence  all  men 
had  an  equal  right  to  "life,  liberty,  and  the  pur 
suit  of  happiness,"  and  that  there  was  no  limita 
tion  of  this  claim  to  men  of  white  race.  If  it  was 
not  going  to  be  possible  to  argue  slavery  out  of 
existence,  these  men  preferred  to  have  the  Union 
dissolved  rather  than  to  bring  upon  States  like 
Massachusetts  a  share  of  the  responsibility  for 
the  wrong  done  to  mankind  and  to  justice  under 
the  laws  of  South  Carolina. 

The  Whig  party,  whose  great  leader,  Henry 
Clay,  had  closed  his  life  in  1852,  just  at  the  time 
when  Lincoln  was  becoming  prominent  in  politics, 
held  that  all  citizens  were  bound  by  the  compact 
entered  into  by  their  ancestors,  first  under  the 
Articles  of  Confederation  of  1783,  and  later  under 
the  Constitution  of  1789.  Our  ancestors  had. 


22  Abraham  Lincoln 

for  the  purpose  of  bringing  about  the  organisation 
of  the  Union,  agreed  to  respect  the  institution 
of  slavery  in  the  States  in  which  it  existed.  The 
Whigs  of  1850,  held,  therefore,  that  in  such  of 
the  Slave  States  as  had  been  part  of  the  original 
thirteen,  slavery  was  an  institution  to  be  recog 
nised  and  protected  under  the  law  of  the  land. 
They  admitted,  further,  that  what  their  grand 
fathers  had  done  in  1789,  had  been  in  a  measure 
confirmed  by  the  action  of  their  fathers  in  1820. 
The  Missouri  Compromise  of  1820,  in  making 
clear  that  all  States  thereafter  organised  north 
of  the  line  thirty-six  thirty  were  to  be  Free 
States,  made  clear  also  that  States  south  of  that 
line  had  the  privilege  of  coming  into  the  Union 
with  the  institution  of  slavery  and  that  the  citizens 
in  these  newer  Slave  States  should  be  assured 
of  the  same  recognition  and  rights  as  had  been 
accorded  to  those  of  the  original  thirteen. 

The  Missouri  Compromise  permitted  also  the 
introduction  of  Missouri  itself  into  the  Union  as 
a  Slave  State  (as  a  counterpoise  to  the  State  of 
Maine  admitted  the  same  year),  although  almost 
the  entire  territory  of  the  State  of  Missouri  was 
north  of  the  latitude  36°  30'. 

We  may  recall  that,  under  the  Constitution, 
the  States  of  the  South,  while  denying  the  suffrage 


Entrance  into  Politics  23 

to  the  negro,  had  secured  the  right  to  include 
the  negro  population  as  a  basis  for  their  represen 
tation  in  the  lower  House.  In  apportioning  the 
representatives  to  the  population,  five  negroes 
were  to  be  counted  as  the  equivalent  of  three 
white  men.  The  passage,  in  1854,  of  the  Kansas- 
Nebraska  Act,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  con 
firm  the  existence  of  slavery  and  to  extend  the 
institution  throughout  the  country,  was  carried 
in  the  House  by  thirteen  votes.  The  House 
contained  at  that  time  no  less  than  twenty  mem 
bers  representing  the  negro  population.  The 
negroes  were,  therefore,  in  this  instance  involun 
tarily  made  the  instruments  for  strengthening 
the  chains  of  their  own  serfdom. 

It  was  in  1854  that  Lincoln  first  propounded 
the  famous  question,  "Can  the  nation  endure 
half  slave  and  half  free? "  This  question,  slightly 
modified,  became  the  keynote  four  years  later 
of  Lincoln's  contention  against  the  Douglas  theory 
of  "squatter  sovereignty."  The  organisation  of 
the  Republican  party  dates  from  1856.  Various 
claims  have  been  made  concerning  the  precise 
date  and  place  at  which  were  first  presented  the 
statement  of  principles  that  constituted  the  final 
platform  of  the  party,  and  in  regard  to  the  men 
who  were  responsible  for  such  statement.  At  a 


24  Abraham  Lincoln 

meeting  held  as  far  back  as  July,  1854,  at  Jackson, 
Michigan,  a  platform  was  adopted  by  a  conven 
tion  which  had  been  brought  together  to  formulate 
opposition  to  any  extension  of  slavery,  and  this 
Jackson  platform  did  contain  the  substance  of 
the  conclusions  and  certain  of  the  phrases  which 
later  were  included  in  the  Republican  platform. 
In  January,  1856,  Parke  Godwin  published  in 
Putnam's  Monthly,  of  which  he  was  political 
editor,  an  article  outlining  the  necessary  consti 
tution  of  the  new  party.  This  article  gave  a 
fuller  expression  than  had  thus  far  been  made  of 
the  views  of  the  men  who  were  later  accepted 
as  the  leaders  of  the  Republican  party.  In 
May,  1856,  Lincoln  made  a  speech  at  Bloomington, 
Illinois,  setting  forth  the  principles  for  the  anti- 
slavery  campaign  as  they  were  understood  by 
his  group  of  Whigs.  In  this  speech,  Lincoln 
speaks  of  "that  perfect  liberty  for  which  our 
Southern  fellow-citizens  are  sighing,  the  liberty 
of  making  slaves  of  other  people";  and  again, 
"  It  is  the  contention  of  Mr.  Douglas,  in  his  claim 
for  the  rights  of  American  citizens,  that  if  A  sees 
fit  to  enslave  B,  no  other  man  shall  have  the 
right  to  object."  Of  this  Bloomington  speech, 
Herndon  says:  "It  was  logic;  it  was  pathos; 
it  was  enthusiasm ;  it  was  justice,  integrity,  truth, 


Entrance  into  Politics  25 

and  right.  The  words  seemed  to  be  set  ablaze 
by  the  divine  fires  of  a  soul  maddened  by  a  great 
wrong.  The  utterance  was  hard,  knotty,  gnarly, 
backed  with  wrath. " 

From  this  time  on,  Lincoln  was  becoming 
known  throughout  the  country  as  one  of  the 
leaders  in  the  new  issues,  able  and  ready  to 
give  time  and  service  to  the  anti-slavery  fight 
and  to  the  campaign  work  of  the  Republican 
organisation.  This  political  service  interfered 
to  some  extent  with  his  work  at  the  Bar,  but 
he  did  not  permit  political  interests  to  stand  in 
the  way  of  any  obligations  that  had  been  assumed 
to  his  clients.  He  simply  accepted  fewer  cases, 
and  to  this  extent  reduced  his  very  moderate 
earnings.  In  his  work  as  a  lawyer,  he  never 
showed  any  particular  capacity  for  increasing 
income  or  for  looking  after  his  own  business 
interests.  It  was  his  principle  and  his  practice 
to  discourage  litigation.  He  appears,  during 
the  twenty-five  years  in  which  he  was  in  active 
practice,  to  have  made  absolutely  no  enemies 
among  his  professional  opponents.  He  enjoyed 
an  exceptional  reputation  for  the  frankness  with 
which  he  would  accept  the  legitimate  contentions 
of  his  opponents  or  would  even  himself  state 
their  case.  Judge  David  Davis,  before  whom 


26  Abraham  Lincoln 

Lincoln  had  occasion  during  these  years  to  practise, 
says  that  the  Court  was  always  prepared  to  accept 
as  absolutely  fair  and  substantially  complete 
Lincoln's  statement  of  the  matters  at  issue. 
Davis  says  it  occasionally  happened  that  Lincoln 
would  supply  some  consideration  of  importance 
on  his  opponent's  side  of  the  case  that  the  other 
counsel  had  overlooked.  It  was  Lincoln's  prin 
ciple  to  impress  upon  himself  at  the  outset  the 
full  strength  of  the  other  man's  position.  It  was 
also  his  principle  to  accept  no  case  in  the  justice 
of  which  he  had  not  been  able  himself  to  believe. 
He  possessed  also  by  nattire  an  exceptional 
capacity  for  the  detection  of  faulty  reasoning; 
and  his  exercise  of  the  power  of  analysis  in  his 
work  at  the  Bar  proved  of  great  service  later  in 
widening  his  influence  as  a  political  leader.  The 
power  that  he  possessed,  when  he  was  assured  of 
the  justice  of  his  cause,  of  convincing  court  and 
jury  became  the  power  of  impressing  his  con 
victions  upon  great  bodies  of  voters.  Later,  when 
he  had  upon  his  shoulders  the  leadership  of  the 
nation,  he  took  the  people  into  his  confidence; 
he  reasoned  with  them  as  if  they  were  sitting  as 
a  great  jury  for  the  determination  of  the  national 
policy,  and  he  was  able  to  impress  upon  them 
his  perfect  integrity  of  purpose  and  the  soundness 


Entrance  into  Politics  27 

of  his  conclusions, — conclusions  which  thus  became 
the  policy  of  the  nation. 

He  calls  himself  a  "mast-fed  lawyer"  and 
it  is  true  that  his  opportunities  for  reading 
continued  to  be  most  restricted.  Davis  said 
in  regard  to  Lincoln's  work  as  a  lawyer:  "He 
had  a  magnificent  equipoise  of  head,  conscience, 
and  heart.  In  non-essentials  he  was  pliable; 
but  on  the  underlying  principles  of  truth  and 
justice,  his  will  was  as  firm  as  steel."  We 
find  from  the  record  of  Lincoln's  work  in  the 
Assembly  and  later  in  Congress  that  he  would 
never  do  as  a  Representative  what  he  was  unwill 
ing  to  do  as  an  individual.  His  capacity  for 
seeing  the  humorous  side  of  things  was  of  course 
but  a  phase  of  a  general  clearness  of  perception. 
The  man  who  sees  things  clearly,  who  is  able 
to  recognise  both  sides  of  a  matter,  the  man 
who  can  see  all  round  a  position,  the  opposite  of 
the  man  in  blinders,  that  man  necessarily  has 
a  sense  of  humour.  He  is  able,  if  occasion  presents, 
to  laugh  at  himself.  Lincoln's  capacity  for 
absorbing  and  for  retaining  information  and  for 
having  this  in  readiness  for  use  at  the  proper 
time  was,  as  we  have  seen,  something  that  went 
back  to  his  boyhood.  He  says  of  himself:  "My 
mind  is  something  like  a  piece  of  steel ;  it  is  very 


28  Abraham  Lincoln 

hard  to  scratch  anything  on  it  and  almost  impos 
sible  after  you  have  got  it  there  to  rub  it  out." 
Lincoln's  correspondence  has  been  preserved 
with  what  is  probably  substantial  completeness. 
The  letters  written  by  him  to  friends,  acquain 
tances,  political  correspondents,  individual  men  of 
one  kind  or  another,  have  been  gathered  together 
and  have  been  brought  into  print  not,  as  is  most 
frequently  the  case,  under  the  discretion  or  judg 
ment  of  a  friendly  biographer,  but  by  a  great 
variety  of  more  or  less  sympathetic  people.  It 
would  seem  as  if  but  very  few  of  Lincoln's  letters 
could  have  been  mislaid  or  destroyed.  One  can 
but  be  impressed,  in  reading  these  letters,  with 
the  absolute  honesty  of  purpose  and  of  statement 
that  characterises  them.  There  are  very  few 
men,  particularly  those  whose  active  lives  have 
been  passed  in  a  period  of  political  struggle  and 
civil  war,  whose  correspondence  could  stand  such 
a  test.  There  never  came  to  Lincoln  requirement 
to  say  to  his  correspondent,  "Burn  this  letter." 


Ill 

THE   FIGHT  AGAINST   THE   EXTENSION   OF   SLAVERY 

IN  1856,  the  Supreme  Court,  under  the  head 
ship  of  Judge  Taney,  gave  out  the  decision  of 
the  Dred  Scott  case.  The  purport  of  this  decision 
was  that  a  negro  was  not  to  be  considered  as  a 
person  but  as  a  chattel;  and  that  the  taking  of 
such  negro  chattel  into  free  territory  did  not 
cancel  or  impair  the  property  rights  of  the  master. 
It  appeared  to  the  men  of  the  North  as  if  under 
this  decision  the  entire  country,  including  in 
addition  to  the  national  territories  the  independ 
ent  States  which  had  excluded  slavery,  was  to 
be  thrown  open  to  the  invasion  of  the  institution. 
The  Dred  Scott  decision,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise 
(and  the  two  acts  were  doubtless  a  part  of  one 
thoroughly  considered  policy),  foreshadowed  as 
their  logical  and  almost  inevitable  consequence 
the  bringing  of  the  entire  nation  under  the  control 
of  slavery.  The  men  of  the  future  State  of  Kan 
sas  made  during  1856-57  a  plucky  fight  to  keep 

29 


30  Abraham  Lincoln 

slavery  out  of  their  borders.  The  so-called 
Lecompton  Constitution  undertook  to  force  slav 
ery  upon  Kansas.  This  constitution  was  de 
clared  by  the  administration  (that  of  President 
Buchanan)  to  have  been  adopted,  but  the  fraud 
ulent  character  of  the  voting  was  so  evident 
that  Walker,  the  Democratic  Governor,  although 
a  sympathiser  with  slavery,  felt  compelled  to 
repudiate  it.  This  constitution  was  repudiated 
also  by  Douglas,  although  Douglas  had  declared 
that  the  State  ought  to  be  thrown  open  to  slavery. 
Jefferson  Davis,  at  that  time  Secretary  of  War, 
declared  that  * '  Kansas  was  in  a  state  of  rebellion 
and  that  the  rebellion  must  be  crushed. "  Armed 
bands  from  Missouri  crossed  the  river  to  Kan 
sas  for  the  purpose  of  casting  fraudulent  votes 
and  for  the  further  purpose  of  keeping  the  Free- 
soil  settlers  away  from  the  polls. 

This  fight  for  freedom  in  Kansas  gave  a  further 
basis  for  Lincoln's  statement  "that  a  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand;  this  government 
cannot  endure  half  slave  and  half  free."  It  was 
with  this  statement  as  his  starting-point  that 
Lincoln  entered  into  his  famous  Senatorial  cam 
paign  with  Douglas.  Douglas  had  already  repre 
sented  Illinois  in  the  Senate  for  two  terms  and 
had,  therefore,  the  advantage  of  possession  and 


Slavery  Extension  Fight  31 

of  a  substantial  control  of  the  machinery  of  the 
State.  He  had  the  repute  at  the  time  of  being 
the  leading  political  debater  in  the  country. 
He  was  shrewd,  forcible,  courageous,  and,  in  the 
matter  of  convictions,  unprincipled.  He  knew 
admirably  how  to  cater  to  the  prejudices  of  the 
masses.  His  career  thus  far  had  been  one  of 
unbroken  success.  His  Senatorial  fight  was, 
in  his  hope  and  expectation,  to  be  but  a  step 
towards  the  Presidency.  The  Democratic  party, 
with  an  absolute  control  south  of  Mason  and 
Dixon's  Line  and  with  a  very  substantial  support 
in  the  Northern  States,  was  in  a  position,  if  un 
broken,  to  control  with  practical  certainty  the 
Presidential  election  of  1860.  Douglas  seemed 
to  be  the  natural  leader  of  the  party.  It  was 
necessary  for  him,  however,  while  retaining  the 
support  of  the  Democrats  of  the  North,  to  make 
clear  to  those  of  the  South  that  his  influence 
would  work  for  the  maintenance  and  for  the 
extension  of  slavery. 

The  South  was  well  pleased  with  the  purpose 
and  with  the  result  of  the  Dred  Scott  decision 
and  with  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
It  is  probable,  however,  that  if  the  Dred  Scott 
decision  had  not  given  to  the  South  so  full  a 
measure  of  satisfaction,  the  South  would  have 


32  Abraham  Lincoln 

been  more  ready  to  accept  the  leadership  of  a 
Northern  Democrat  like  Douglas.  Up  to  a  cer 
tain  point  in  the  conflict,  they  had  felt  the  need 
of  Douglas  and  had  realised  the  importance  of 
the  support  that  he  was  in  a  position  to  bring 
from  the  North.  When,  however,  the  Missouri 
Compromise  had  been  repealed  and  the  Supreme 
Court  had  declared  that  slaves  must  be  recognised 
as  property  throughout  the  entire  country,  the 
Southern  claims  were  increased  to  a  point  to  which 
certain  of  the  followers  of  Douglas  were  not 
willing  to  go.  It  was  a  large  compliment  to 
the  young  lawyer  of  Illinois  to  have  placed  upon 
him  the  responsibility  of  leading,  against  such 
a  competitor  as  Douglas,  the  contest  of  the  Whigs, 
and  of  the  Free-soil ers  back  of  the  Whigs,  against 
any  further  extension  of  slavery,  a  contest  which 
was  really  a  fight  for  the  continued  existence  of 
the  nation. 

Lincoln  seems  to  have  gone  into  the  fight  with 
full  courage,  the  courage  of  his  convictions. 
He  felt  that  Douglas  was  a  trimmer,  and  he 
believed  that  the  issue  had  now  been  brought  to 
a  point  at  which  the  trimmer  could  not  hold 
support  on  both  sides  of  Mason  and  Dixon's 
Line.  He  formulated  at  the  outset  of  the  debate 
a  question  which  was  pressed  persistently  upon 


Slavery  Extension  Fight  33 

Douglas  during  the  succeeding  three  weeks.  This 
question  was  worded  as  follows :  '  'Can  the  people 
of  a  United  States  territory,  prior  to  the  formation 
of  a  State  constitution  or  against  the  protest  of 
any  citizen  of  the  United  States,  exclude  slavery?" 
Lincoln's  campaign  advisers  were  of  opinion 
that  this  question  was  inadvisable.  They  took 
the  ground  that  Douglas  would  answer  the  ques 
tion  in  such  way  as  to  secure  the  approval  of 
the  voters  of  Illinois  and  that  in  so  doing  he 
would  win  the  Senatorship.  Lincoln's  response 
was  in  substance:  "That  may  be.  I  hold,  how 
ever,  that  if  Douglas  answers  this  question  in  a 
way  to  satisfy  the  Democrats  of  the  North,  he 
will  inevitably  lose  the  support  of  the  more 
extreme,  at  least,  of  the  Democrats  of  the  South. 
We  may  lose  the  Senatorship  as  far  as  my  personal 
candidacy  is  concerned.  If,  however,  Douglas 
fails  to  retain  the  support  of  the  South,  he  cannot 
become  President  in  1 860 .  The  line  will  be  drawn 
directly  between  those  who  are  willing  to  accept 
the  extreme  claims  of  the  South  and  those  who 
resist  these  claims.  A  right  decision  is  the 
essential  thing  for  the  safety  of  the  nation." 
The  question  gave  no  little  perplexity  to  Douglas. 
He  finally,  however,  replied  that  in  his  judgment 
the  people  of  a  United  States  territory  had  the 


34  Abraham  Lincoln 

right  to  exclude  slavery.  When  asked  again 
by  Lincoln  how  he  brought  this  decision  into 
accord  with  the  Dred  Scott  decision,  he  replied 
in  substance:  "Well,  they  have  not  the  right 
to  take  constitutional  measures  to  exclude  slavery 
but  they  can  by  local  legislation  render  slavery 
practically  impossible. "  The  Dred  Scott  decision 
had  in  fact  itself  overturned  the  Douglas  theory 
of  popular  sovereignty  or  "squatter  sovereignty. " 
Douglas  was  only  able  to  say  that  his  sovereignty 
contention  made  provision  for  such  control  of 
domestic  or  local  regulations  as  would  make 
slavery  impossible. 

The  South,  rendered  autocratic  by  the  authority 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  was  not  willing  to  accept 
the  possibility  of  slavery  being  thus  restricted 
out  of  existence  in  any  part  of  the  country.  The 
Southerners  repudiated  Douglas  as  Lincoln  had 
prophesied  they  would  do.  Douglas  had  been 
trying  the  impossible  task  of  carrying  water  on 
both  shoulders.  He  gained  the  Senatorship  by 
a  narrow  margin;  he  secured  in  the  vote  in  the 
Legislature  a  majority  of  eight,  but  Lincoln  had 
even  in  this  fight  won  the  support  of  the  peo 
ple.  His  majority  on  the  popular  vote  was  four 
thousand. 

The  series  of  debates  between  these  two  leaders 


Slavery  Extension  Fight  35 

came  to  be  of  national  importance.  It  was  not 
merely  a  question  of  the  representation  in  the 
vSenate  from  the  State  of  Illinois,  but  of  the 
presentation  of  arguments,  not  only  to  the  voters 
of  Illinois  but  to  citizens  throughout  the  entire 
country,  in  behalf  of  the  restriction  of  slavery 
on  the  one  hand  or  of  its  indefinite  expansion 
and  protection  on  the  other.  The  debate  was 
educational  not  merely  for  the  voters  who  listened, 
but  for  the  thousands  of  other  voters  who  read 
the  reports.  It  would  be  an  enormous  advantage 
for  the  political  education  of  candidates  and  for 
the  education  of  voters  if  such  debates  could 
become  the  routine  in  Congressional  and  Presiden 
tial  campaigns.  Under  the  present  routine,  we 
have,  in  place  of  an  assembly  of  voters  representing 
the  conflicting  views  of  the  two  parties  or  of  the 
several  political  groups,  a  homogeneous  audience 
of  one  way  of  thinking,  and  speakers  who  have 
no  opponent  present  to  check  the  temptation 
to  launch  forth  into  wild  statements,  personal 
abuse,  and  irresponsible  conclusions.  An  inter 
ruption  of  the  speaker  is  considered  to  be  a  dis 
turbance  of  order,  and  the  man  who  is  not  fully 
in  sympathy  with  the  views  of  the  audience  is 
likely  to  be  put  out  as  an  interloper.  With  a 
system  of  joint  debates,  the  speakers  would  be 


36  Abraham  Lincoln 

under  an  educational  repression.  False  or  exag 
gerated  statements  would  not  be  made,  or  would 
not  be  made  consciously,  because  they  would 
be  promptly  corrected  by  the  other  fellow.  There 
would  of  necessity  come  to  be  a  better  understand 
ing  and  a  larger  respect  for  the  positions  of  the 
opponent.  The  men  who  would  be  selected  as 
leaders  or  speakers  to  enforce  the  contentions 
of  the  party,  would  have  to  possess  some  reasoning 
faculty  as  well  as  oratorical  fluency.  The  voters, 
instead  of  being  shut  in  with  one  group  of  argu 
ments  more  or  less  reasonable,  would  be  brought 
into  touch  with  the  arguments  of  other  groups 
of  citizens.  I  can  conceive  of  no  better  method 
for  bringing  representative  government  on  to  a 
higher  plane  and  for  making  an  election  what 
it  ought  to  be,  a  reasonable  decision  by  reasoning 
voters,  than  the  institution  of  joint  debates. 

I  cite  certain  of  the  incisive  statements 
that  came  into  Lincoln's  seven  debates.  "A 
slave,  says  Judge  Douglas  (on  the  authority 
of  Judge  Taney),  is  a  human  being  who  is  legally 
not  a  person  but  a  thing."  "I  contend  [says 
Lincoln]  that  slavery  is  founded  on  the  selfishness 
of  man's  nature.  Slavery  is  a  violation  of  the 
eternal  right,  and  as  long  as  God  reigns  and  as 
school-children  read,  that  black  evil  can  never 


Slavery  Extension  Fight          37 

be  consecrated  into  God's  truth."  "A  man  does 
not  lose  his  right  to  a  piece  of  property  which 
has  been  stolen.  Can  a  man  lose  a  right  to 
himself  if  he  himself  has  been  stolen?"  The 
following  words  present  a  summary  of  Lincoln's 
statements : 

Judge  Douglas  contends  that  if  any  one  man 
chooses  to  enslave  another,  no  third  man  has  a  right 
to  object.  Our  Fathers,  in  accepting  slavery  under 
the  Constitution  as  a  legal  institution,  were  of 
opinion,  as  is  clearly  indicated  by  the  recorded 
utterances,  that  slavery  would  in  the  course  of 
a  few  years  die  out.  They  were  quite  clear  in 
their  minds  that  the  slave-trade  must  be  abolished 
and  for  ever  forbidden  and  this  decision  was 
arrived  at  under  the  leadership  of  men  like  Jeffer 
son  and  without  a  protest  from  the  South.  Jeffer 
son  was  himself  the  author  of  the  Ordinance  of 
1787,  which  in  prohibiting  the  introduction  of 
slavery,  consecrated  to  freedom  the  great  territory 
of  the  North-west,  and  this  measure  was  fully 
approved  by  Washington  and  by  the  other  great 
leaders  from  the  South.  Where  slavery  exists, 
full  liberty  refuses  to  enter.  It  was  only  through 
this  wise  action  of  the  Fathers  that  it  was  possi 
ble  to  bring  into  existence,  through  colonisation, 
the  great  territories  and  great  States  of  the  North- 


38  Abraham  Lincoln 

west.  It  is  this  settlement,  and  the  later  ad 
justment  of  1820,  that  Douglas  and  his  friends 
in  the  South  are  undertaking  to  overthrow. 
Slavery  is  not,  as  Judge  Douglas  contends,  a 
local  issue;  it  is  a  national  responsibility.  The 
repeal  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  throws  open 
not  only  a  great  new  territory  to  the  curse  of 
slavery ;  it  throws  open  the  whole  slavery  question 
for  the  embroiling  of  the  present  generation  of 
Americans.  Taking  slaves  into  free  territory 
is  the  same  thing  as  reviving  the  slave-trade. 
It  perpetuates  and  develops  interstate  slave- 
trade.  Government  derives  its  just  powers  from 
the  consent  of  the  governed.  The  Fathers  did 
not  claim  that  "the  right  of  the  people  to  govern 
negroes  was  the  right  of  the  people  to  govern 
themselves." 

The  policy  of  Judge  Douglas  was  based  on  the 
theory  that  the  people  did  not  care,  but  the 
people  did  care,  as  was  evinced  two  years  later 
by  the  popular  vote  for  President  throughout 
the  North.  One  of  those  who  heard  these  debates 
says:  "Lincoln  loved  truth  for  its  own  sake. 
He  had  a  deep,  true,  living  conscience;  honesty 
was  his  polar  star.  He  never  acted  for  stage 
effect.  He  was  cool,  spirited,  reflective,  self- 
possessed,  and  self-reliant.  His  style  was  clear, 


Slavery  Extension  Fight  39 

terse,  compact.  ...  He  became  tremendous  in 
the  directness  of  his  utterance  when,  as  his  soul 
was  inspired  with  the  thought  of  human  right 
and  Divine  justice,  he  rose  to  impassioned  elo 
quence,  and  at  such  times  he  was,  in  my  judg 
ment,  unsurpassed  by  Clay  or  by  Mirabeau." 
As  the  debates  progressed,  it  was  increasingly 
evident  that  Douglas  found  himself  hard  pushed. 
Lincoln  would  not  allow  himself  to  be  swerved 
from  the  main  issue  by  any  tergiversation  or 
personal  attacks.  He  insisted  from  day  to  day 
in  bringing  Douglas  back  to  this  issue:  "What 
do  you,  Douglas,  propose  to  do  about  slavery 
in  the  territories?  Is  it  your  final  judgment 
that  there  is  to  be  no  further  reservation  of  free 
territory  in  this  country?  Do  you  believe  that  it 
is  for  the  advantage  of  this  country  to  put  no 
restriction  to  the  extension  of  slavery?"  Doug 
las  wriggled  and  squirmed  under  this  direct  ques 
tioning  and  his  final  replies  gave  satisfaction 
neither  to  the  Northern  Democrats  nor  to  those  of 
the  South.  The  issue  upon  which  the  Presidential 
contest  of  1860  was  to  be  fought  out  had  been 
fairly  stated.  It  was  the  same  issue  under  which, 
in  1 86 1,  the  fighting  took  the  form  of  civil  war. 
It  was  the  issue  that  took  four  years  to  fight 
out  and  that  was  finally  decided  in  favour  of  the 


40  Abraham  Lincoln 

continued  existence  of  the  nation  as  a  free  state. 
In  this  fight,  Lincoln  was  not  only,  as  the  contest 
was  finally  shaped,  the  original  leader;  he  was  the 
final  leader ;  and  at  the  time  of  his  death  the  great 
question  had  been  decided  for  ever. 

Horace  White,  in  summing  up  the  issues  that 
were  fought  out  in  debate  between  Lincoln  and 
Douglas,  says: 

"Forty-four  years  have  passed  away  since  the 
Civil  War  came  to  an  end  and  we  are  now  able  to 
take  a  dispassionate  view  of  the  question  in  dispute. 
The  people  of  the  South  are  now  generally  agreed 
that  the  institution  of  slavery  was  a  direful  curse  to 
both  races.  We  of  the  North  must  confess  that  there 
was  considerable  foundation  for  the  asserted  right 
of  States  to  secede.  Although  the  Constitution  did 
in  distinct  terms  make  the  Federal  Government 
supreme,  it  was  not  so  understood  at  first  by  the 
people  either  North  or  South.  Particularism  pre 
vailed  everywhere  at  the  beginning.  Nationalism 
was  an  aftergrowth  and  a  slow  growth  proceeding 
mainly  from  the  habit  into  which  people  fell  of  finding 
their  common  centre  of  gravity  at  Washington  City 
and  of  viewing  it  as  the  place  whence  the  American 
name  and  fame  were  blazoned  to  the  world.  During 
the  first  half  century  of  the  Republic,  the  North  and 
South  were  changing  coats  from  time  to  time,  on  the 
subject  of  State  Rights  and  the  right  to  secede,  but 


Slavery  Extension  Fight          41 

meanwhile  the  Constitution  itself  was  working 
silently  in  the  North  to  undermine  the  particularism 
of  Jefferson  and  to  strengthen  the  nationalism  of 
Hamilton.  It  had  accomplished  its  work  in  the 
early  thirties,  when  it  found  its  perfect  expression  in 
Webster's  reply  to  Hayne.  But  the  Southern  people 
were  just  as  firmly  convinced  that  Hayne  was  the 
victor  in  that  contest  as  the  Northern  people  were 
that  Webster  was.  The  vast  material  interests  bot 
tomed  on  slavery  offset  and  neutralised  the  unifying 
process  in  the  South,  while  it  continued  its  whole 
some  work  in  the  North,  and  thus  the  clashing  of 
ideas  paved  the  way  for  the  clash  of  arms.  That 
the  behaviour  of  the  slaveholders  resulted  from  the 
circumstances  in  which  they  were  placed  and  not 
from  any  innate  deviltry  is  a  fact  now  conceded 
by  all  impartial  men.  It  was  conceded  by  Lincoln 
both  before  the  War  and  during  the  War,  and  this 
fact  accounts  for  the  affection  bestowed  upon  him  by 
Southern  hearts  to-day. " 

Lincoln  carried  into  politics  the  same  standard 
of  consistency  of  action  that  had  characterised 
his  work  at  the  Bar.  He  writes,  in  1859,  to  a 
correspondent  whom  he  was  directing  to  further 
the  organisation  of  the  new  party:  "Do  not, 
in  order  to  secure  recruits,  lower  the  standard 
of  the  Republican  party.  The  true  problem  for 
1860,  is  to  fight  to  prevent  slavery  from  becoming 


42  Abraham  Lincoln 

national.  We  must,  however,  recognise  its  con 
stitutional  right  to  exist  in  the  States  in  which 
its  existence  was  recognised  under  the  original 
Constitution."  This  position  was  unsatisfactory 
to  the  Whigs  of  the  Border  States  who  favoured 
a  continuing  division  between  Slave  States  and 
Free  States  of  the  territory  yet  to  be  organised 
into  States.  It  was  also  unsatisfactory  to  the 
extreme  anti-slavery  Whigs  of  the  new  organisa 
tion  who  insisted  upon  throttling  slavery  where- 
ever  it  existed.  It  is  probable  that  the  raid 
made  by  John  Brown,  in  1859,  into  Virginia 
for  the  purpose  of  rousing  the  slaves  to  fight 
for  their  own  liberty,  had  some  immediate  influence 
in  checking  the  activity  of  the  more  extreme 
anti-slavery  group  and  in  strengthening  the 
conservative  side  of  the  new  organisation.  Lin 
coln  disapproved  entirely  of  the  purpose  of  Brown 
and  his  associates,  while  ready  to  give  due  respect 
to  the  idealistic  courage  of  the  man. 

In  February,  1860,  Lincoln  was  invited  by 
certain  of  the  Republican  leaders  in  New  York 
to  deliver  one  of  a  series  of  addresses  which  had 
been  planned  to  make  clear  to  the  voters  the 
purposes  and  the  foundations  of  the  new  party. 
His  name  had  become  known  to  the  Republicans 
of  the  East  through  the  debates  with  Douglas, 


Slavery  Extension  Fight  43 

It  was  recognised  that  Lincoln  had  taken  the 
highest  ground  in  regard  to  the  principles  of 
the  new  party,  and  that  his  counsels  should 
prove  of  practical  service  in  the  shaping  of  the 
policy  of  the  Presidential  campaign.  It  was 
believed  also  that  his  influence  would  be  of 
value  in  securing  voters  in  the  Middle  West. 
The  Committee  of  Invitation  included,  in  addition 
to  a  group  of  the  old  Whigs  (of  whom  my  father 
was  one),  representative  Free- soil  Democrats  like 
William  C.  Bryant  and  John  King.  Lincoln's 
methods  as  a  political  leader  and  orator  were 
known  to  one  or  two  men  on  the  committee, 
but  his  name  was  still  unfamiliar  to  an  Eastern 
audience.  It  was  understood  that  the  new  leader 
from  the  West  was  going  to  talk  to  New  York 
about  the  fight  against  slavery.  It  is  probable 
that  at  least  the  larger  part  of  the  audience 
expected  something  "wild  and  woolly."  The 
West  at  that  time  seemed  very  far  off  from  New 
York  and  was  still  but  little  understood  by  the 
Eastern  communities.  New  Yorkers  found  it 
difficult  to  believe  that  a  man  who  could  influence 
Western  audiences  could  have  anything  to  say 
that  would  count  with  the  cultivated  citizens 
of  the  East.  The  more  optimistic  of  the  hearers 
were  hoping,  however,  that  perhaps  a  new  Henry 


44  Abraham  Lincoln 

Clay  had  arisen  and  were  looking  for  utterances 
of  the  ornate  and  grandiloquent  kind  such  as 
they  had  heard  frequently  from  Clay  and  from 
other  statesmen  of  the  South. 

The  first  impression  of  the  man  from  the  West 
did  nothing  to  contradict  the  expectation  of 
something  weird,  rough,  and  uncultivated.  The 
long,  ungainly  figure  upon  which  hung  clothes 
that,  while  new  for  this  trip,  were  evidently 
the  work  of  an  unskilful  tailor;  the  large  feet, 
the  clumsy  hands  of  which,  at  the  outset,  at 
least,  the  orator  seemed  to  be  unduly  conscious; 
the  long,  gaunt  head  capped  by  a  shock  of  hair 
that  seemed  not  to  have  been  thoroughly  brushed 
out,  made  a  picture  which  did  not  fit  in  with 
New  York's  conception  of  a  finished  statesman. 
The  first  utterance  of  the  voice  was  not  pleasant 
to  the  ear,  the  tone  being  harsh  and  the  key  too 
high.  As  the  speech  progressed,  however,  the 
speaker  seemed  to  get  into  control  of  himself; 
the  voice  gained  a  natural  and  impressive  modula 
tion,  the  gestures  were  dignified  and  appropriate, 
and  the  hearers  came  under  the  influence  of  the 
earnest  look  from  the  deeply-set  eyes  and  of  the  ab 
solute  integrity  of  purpose  and  of  devotion  to  prin 
ciple  which  were  behind  the  thought  and  the  words 
of  the  speaker.  In  place  of  a  ''wild  and  woolly" 


Slavery  Extension  Fight          45 

talk,  illumined  by  more  or  less  incongruous  anec 
dotes;  in  place  of  a  high-strung  exhortation  of 
general  principles  or  of  a  fierce  protest  against 
Southern  arrogance,  the  New  Yorkers  had  pre 
sented  to  them  a  calm  but  forcible  series  of  well- 
reasoned  considerations  upon  which  their  action 
as  citizens  was  to  be  based.  It  was  evident  that 
the  man  from  the  West  understood  thoroughly 
the  constitutional  history  of  the  country;  he  had 
mastered  the  issues  that  had  grown  up  about  the 
slavery  question;  he  knew  thoroughly,  and  was 
prepared  to  respect,  the  rights  of  his  political  op 
ponents;  he  knew  with  equal  thoroughness  the 
rights  of  the  men  whose  views  he  was  helping  to 
shape  and  he  insisted  that  there  should  be  no 
wavering  or  weakening  in  regard  to  the  enforce 
ment  of  those  rights;  he  made  it  clear  that  the 
continued  existence  of  the  nation  depended  upon 
having  these  issues  equitably  adjusted  and  he 
held  that  the  equitable  adjustment  meant  the 
restriction  of  slavery  within  its  present  bound 
aries.  He  maintained  that  such  restrictions  were 
just  and  necessary  as  well  for  the  sake  of  fairness 
to  the  blacks  as  for  the  final  welfare  of  the  whites. 
He  insisted  that  the  voters  in  the  present  States 
in  the  Union  had  upon  them  the  largest  possible 
measure  of  responsibility  in  so  controlling  the 


46  Abraham  Lincoln 

great  domain  of  the  Republic  that  the  States 
of  the  future,  the  States  in  which  their  children 
and  their  grandchildren  were  to  grow  up  as 
citizens,  must  be  preserved  in  full  liberty,  must 
be  protected  against  any  invasion  of  an  institution 
which  represented  barbarity.  He  maintained  that 
such  a  contention  could  interfere  in  no  way  with 
the  due  recognition  of  the  legitimate  property 
rights  of  the  present  owners  of  slaves.  He  pointed 
out  to  the  New  Englander  of  the  anti-slavery 
group  that  the  restriction  of  slavery  meant  its 
early  extermination.  He  insisted  that  war  for 
the  purpose  of  exterminating  slavery  from  existing 
slave  territory  could  not  be  justified.  He  was 
prepared,  for  the  purpose  of  defending  against 
slavery  the  national  territory  that  was  still  free, 
to  take  the  risk  of  the  war  which  the  South 
threatened  because  he  believed  that  only  through 
such  defence  could  the  existence  of  the  nation 
be  maintained;  and  he  believed,  further,  that 
the  maintenance  of  the  great  Republic  was 
essential,  not  only  for  the  interests  of  its  own 
citizens,  but  for  the  interests  of  free  government 
throughout  the  world.  He  spoke  with  full 
sympathy  of  the  difficulties  and  problems  resting 
upon  the  South,  and  he  insisted  that  the  mat 
ters  at  issue  could  be  adjusted  only  with  a  fair 


Slavery  Extension  Fight  47 

recognition  of  these  difficulties.  Aggression  from 
either  side  of  Mason  and  Dixon's  Line  must  be 
withstood. 

I  was  but  a  boy  when  I  first  looked  upon  the 
gaunt  figure  of  the  man  who  was  to  become  the 
people's  leader,  and  listened  to  his  calm  but 
forcible  arguments  in  behalf  of  the  principles 
of  the  Republican  party.  It  is  not  likely  that 
at  the  time  I  took  in,  with  any  adequate  appre 
ciation,  the  weight  of  the  speaker's  reasoning. 
I  have  read  the  address  more  than  once  since 
and  it  is,  of  course,  impossible  to  separate  my 
first  impressions  from  my  later  direct  knowledge. 
I  do  remember  that  I  was  at  once  impressed 
with  the  feeling  that  here  was  a  political  leader 
whose  methods  differed  from  those  of  any  politi 
cian  to  whom  I  had  listened.  His  contentions 
were  based  not  upon  invective  or  abuse  of  "the 
other  fellow,"  but  purely  on  considerations  of 
justice,  on  that  everlasting  principle  that  what 
is  just,  and  only  what  is  just,  represents  the  largest 
and  highest  interests  of  the  nation  as  a  whole. 
I  doubt  whether  there  occurred  in  the  whole 
speech  a  single  example  of  the  stories  which 
had  been  associated  with  Lincoln's  name.  The 
speaker  was  evidently  himself  impressed  with 
the  greatness  of  the  opportunity  and  with  the 


48  Abraham  Lincoln 

dignity  and  importance  of  his  responsibility.  The 
speech  in  fact  gave  the  keynote  to  the  coming 
campaign. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  it  also  decided 
the  selection  of  the  national  leader  not  only  for 
the  political  campaign,  but  through  the  coming 
struggle.  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  impression 
made  upon  New  York  and  the  East  generally 
by  Lincoln's  speech  and  by  the  man  himself,  the 
vote  of  New  York  could  not  have  been  secured  in 
the  May  convention  for  the  nomination  of  the 
man  from  Illinois. 

Robert  Lincoln  (writing  to  me  in  July,  1908) 
says : 

"After  my  father's  address  in  New  York  in  February, 
1860,  he  made  a  trip  to  New  England  in  order  to 
visit  me  at  Exeter,  N.  H.,  where  I  was  then  a  student 
in  the  Phillips  Academy.  It  had  not  been  his  plan 
to  do  any  speaking  in  New  England,  but,  as  a  result 
of  the  address  in  New  York,  he  received  several 
requests  from  New  England  friends  for  speeches,  and 
I  find  that  before  returning  to  the  West,  he  spoke 
at  the  following  places:  Providence,  R.  I.,  Manchester, 
N.  H.,  Exeter,  N.  H.,  Dover,  N.  H.,  Concord,  N.  H., 
Hartford,  Conn.,  Meriden,  Conn.,  New  Haven,  Conn., 
Woonsocket,  R.  I.,  Norwalk,  Conn.,  and  Bridgeport, 
Conn.  I  am  quite  sure  that  coming  and  going  he 


Slavery  Extension  Fight  49 

passed    through    Boston    merely    as    an    unknown 
traveller." 

Mr.  Lincoln  writes  to  his  wife  from  Exeter, 
N.  H.,  March  4,  1860,  as  follows: 

"I  have  been  unable  to  escape  this  toil.  If  I  had 
foreseen  it,  I  think  I  would  not  have  come  East  at 
all.  The  speech  at  New  York,  being  within  my 
calculation  before  I  started,  went  ofT  passably  well 
and  gave  me  no  trouble  whatever.  The  difficulty 
was  to  make  nine  others,  before  reading  audiences 
who  had  already  seen  all  my  ideas  in  print."  1 

An  edition  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  address  was  brought 
into  print  in  September,  1860,  by  the  Young 
Men's  Republican  Union  of  New  York,  with  notes 
by  Charles  C.  Nott  (later  Colonel,  and  after  the 
war  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Claims  in  Washington) 
and  Cephas  Brainerd.  The  publication  of  this 
pamphlet  shows  that  as  early  as  September,  1860, 
the  historic  importance  and  permanent  value  of 
this  speech  were  fairly  realised  by  the  national 
leaders  of  the  day.  In  the  preface  to  the  reprint, 
the  editors  say : 

"  The  address  is  characterised  by  wisdom,  truthful- 

1  This  letter  has  not  been  published.  It  is  cited  here 
through  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Robert  Lincoln  and  Mr.  R.  W. 
Gilder. 


50  Abraham  Lincoln 

ness  and  learning.  .  .  .  From  the  first  line  to  the  last 
— from  his  premises  to  his  conclusion,  the  speaker 
travels  with  a  swift,  unerring  directness  that  no 
logician  has  ever  excelled.  His  argument  is  com 
plete  and  is  presented  without  the  affectation  of 
learning,  and  without  the  stiffness  which  usually 
accompanies  dates  and  details.  ...  A  single  simple 
sentence  contains  a  chapter  of  history  that  has  taken 
days  of  labour  to  verify,  and  that  must  have  cost 
the  author  months  of  investigation  to  acquire.  The 
reader  may  take  up  this  address  as  a  political  pam 
phlet,  but  he  will  leave  it  as  an  historical  treatise 
— brief,  complete,  perfect,  sound,  impartial  truth  — 
which  will  serve  the  time  and  the  occasion  that  called  it 
forth,  and  which  will  be  esteemed  hereafter  no  less  for 
its  unpretending  modesty  than  for  its  intrinsic  worth. "  i 

Horace  White,  who  was  himself  present  at  the 
Chicago  Convention,  writes  (in  1909)  as  follows: 

"To  anybody  looking  back  at  the  Republican 
National  Convention  of  1860,  it  must  be  plain  that 
there  were  only  two  men  who  had  any  chance  of 
being  nominated  for  President. 

"These  were  Lincoln  and  Seward.  I  was  present 
at  the  Convention  as  a  spectator  and  I  knew  this  fact 
at  the  time,  but  it  seemed  to  me  at  the  beginning 

i  The  text  of  the  speech,  as  revised  by  Lincoln  and  with 
the  introduction  and  notes  by  Nott  and  Brainerd,  is  given  as 
an  appendix  to  this  volume. 


Slavery  Extension  Fight          51 

that  Seward's  chances  were  the  better.  One  third 
of  the  delegates  of  Illinois  preferred  Seward  and 
expected  to  vote  for  him  after  a  few  complimentary 
ballots  for  Lincoln.  If  there  had  been  no  Lincoln 
in  the  field,  Seward  would  certainly  have  been  nomin 
ated  and  then  the  course  of  history  would  have  been 
very  different  from  what  it  was,  for  if  Seward  had 
been  nominated  and  elected  there  would  have  been 
no  forcible  opposition  to  the  withdrawal  of  such 
States  as  then  desired  to  secede.  And  as  a  conse 
quence  the  Republican  party  would  have  been  rent 
in  twain  and  disabled  from  making  effectual  resistance 
to  other  demands  of  the  South. 

''It  was  Seward's  conviction  that  the  policy  of 
non-coercion  would  have  quieted  the  secession  move 
ment  in  the  Border  States  and  that  the  Gulf  States 
would,  after  a  while,  have  returned  to  the  Union 
like  repentant  prodigal  sons.  His  proposal  to  Lincoln 
to  seek  a  quarrel  with  four  European  nations,  who 
had  done  us  no  harm,  in  order  to  arouse  a  feeling 
of  Americanism  in  the  Confederate  States,  was  an 
outgrowth  of  this  conviction.  It  was  an  indefensible 
proposition,  akin  to  that  which  prompted  Bismarck  to 
make  use  of  France  as  an  anvil  on  which  to  hammer 
and  weld  Germany  together,  but  it  was  not  an  un 
patriotic  one,  since  it  was  bottomed  on  a  desire  to 
preserve  the  Union  without  civil  war. " 

Never  was  a  political  leadership  more  fairly, 


5 2  Abraham  Lincoln 

more  nobly,  and  more  reasonably  won.  When 
the  ballot  boxes  were  opened  on  the  first  Tuesday 
in  November,  Lincoln  was  found  to  have  secured 
the  electoral  vote  of  every  Northern  State  except 
New  Jersey,  and  in  New  Jersey  four  electors 
out  of  seven.  Breckinridge,  the  leader  of  the 
extreme  Southern  Democrats,  had  back  of  him 
only  the  votes  of  the  Southern  States  outside 
of  the  Border  States,  these  latter  being  divided 
between  Bell  and  Douglas.  Douglas  and  his 
shallow  theories  of  ''squatter  sovereignty"  had 
been  buried  beneath  the  good  sense  of  the  voters 
of  the  North. 


IV 


LINCOLN    AS     PRESIDENT    ORGANISES    THE    PEOPLE 

FOR    THE    MAINTENANCE    OF    NATIONAL 

EXISTENCE 

AFTER  the  election  of  November,  1860,  events 
moved  swiftly.  On  the  2oth  of  December,  comes 
the  first  act  of  the  Civil  War,  the  secession  of 
South  Carolina.  The  secession  of  Georgia  had 
for  a  time  been  delayed  by  the  influence  of  Alex 
ander  H.  Stephens  who,  on  the  1 4th  of  November, 
had  made  a  great  argument  for  the  maintenance 
of  the  Union.  His  chief  local  opponent  at  the 
time  was  Robert  Toombs,  the  Southern  leader 
who  proposed  in  the  near  future  to  "call  the  roll- 
call  of  his  slaves  on  Bunker  Hill. "  Lincoln  was 
still  hopeful  of  saving  to  the  cause  of  the  Union 
the  Border  States  and  the  more  conservative 
divisions  of  States,  like  North  Carolina,  which 
had  supported  the  Whig  party. 

In  December,  we  find  correspondence  between 
Lincoln  and  Gilmer  of  North  Carolina,  whom 
he  had  known  in  Washington.  "The  essential 

53 


54  Abraham  Lincoln 

difference,"  says  Lincoln,  "  bet  ween  your  group 
and  mine  is  that  you  hold  slavery  to  be  in  itself 
desirable  and  as  something  to  be  extended.  I 
hold  it  to  be  an  essential  evil  which,  with  due 
regard  to  existing  rights,  must  be  restricted  and 
in  the  near  future  exterminated. " 

On  the  23d  of  February,  1861,  Lincoln  reaches 
Washington  where  he  is  to  spend  a  weary  and 
anxious  two  weeks  of  waiting  for  the  burden 
of  his  new  responsibilities.  He  is  at  this  time 
fifty-two  years  of  age.  In  one  of  his  brief  ad 
dresses  on  the  way  to  Washington  he  says : 

"It  is  but  little  to  a  man  of  my  age,  but  a  great  deal 
to  thirty  millions  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  to  posterity  in  all  coming  time,  if  the  Union  of 
the  States  and  the  liberties  of  the  people  are  to 
be  lost.  If  the  majority  is  not  to  rule,  who  would  be 
the  judge  of  the  issue  or  where  is  such  judge  to  be 
found?" 

It  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  more  exasperating 
condition  of  affairs  than  obtained  in  Washington 
while  Lincoln  was  awaiting  the  day  of  inaugura 
tion.  The  government  appeared  to  be  crumbling 
away  under  the  nerveless  direction,  or  lack  of 
direction,  of  President  Buchanan  and  his  asso 
ciates.  In  his  last  message  to  Congress,  Buchanan 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence    55 

had  taken  the  ground  that  the  Constitution  made 
no  provision  for  the  secession  of  States  or  for 
the  breaking  up  of  the  Union;  but  that  it  also 
failed  to  contain  any  provision  for  measures  that 
could  prevent  such  secession  and  the  consequent 
destruction  of  the  nation.  The  old  gentleman 
appeared  to  be  entirely  unnerved  by  the  pressure 
of  events.  He  could  not  see  any  duty  before 
him.  He  certainly  failed  to  realise  that  the  more 
immediate  cause  of  the  storm  was  the  breaking 
down,  through  the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  Com 
promise,  of  the  barriers  that  had  in  1820,  and  in 
1850,  been  placed  against  the  extension  of  slavery. 
He  evidently  failed  to  understand  that  it  was 
his  own  action  in  backing  up  the  infamous  Le- 
compton  Constitution,  and  the  invasion  of  Kansas 
by  the  slave-owners,  which  had  finally  aroused 
the  spirit  of  the  North,  and  further  that  it  was 
the  influence  of  his  administration  which  had 
given  to  the  South  the  belief  that  it  was  now  in  a 
position  to  control  for  slavery  the  whole  territory 
of  the  Republic. 

It  has  before  now  been  pointed  out  that,  under 
certain  contingencies,  the  long  interval  between 
the  national  election  and  the  inaugural  of  the 
new  President  from  the  first  Tuesday  in  November 
until  the  fourth  day  of  March  must,  in  not  a  few 


56  Abraham  Lincoln 

instances,  bring  inconvenience,  disadvantage,  and 
difficulty  not  only  to  the  new  administration  but 
to  the  nation.  These  months  in  which  the  mem 
bers  of  an  administration  which  had  practically 
committed  itself  to  the  cause  of  disintegration, 
were  left  in  charge  of  the  resources  of  the  nation 
gave  a  most  serious  example  and  evidence  of 
such  disadvantage.  This  historic  instance  ought 
to  have  been  utilised  immediately  after  the  War 
as  an  influence  for  bringing  about  a  change  in  the 
date  for  bringing  into  power  the  administration 
that  has  been  chosen  in  November. 

By  the  time  when  Lincoln  and  the  members  of 
his  Cabinet  had  placed  in  their  hands  the  respon 
sibilities  of  administration,  the  resources  at  the 
disposal  of  the  government  had,  as  far  as  prac 
ticable,  been  scattered  or  rendered  unavailable. 
The  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  a  Southerner,  had 
taken  pains  to  send  to  the  farthest  waters  of 
the  Pacific  as  many  as  possible  of  the  vessels  of 
the  American  fleet;  the  Secretary  of  War,  also 
a  Southerner,  had  for  months  been  busy  in  trans 
ferring  to  the  arsenals  of  the  South  the  guns 
and  ammunition  that  had  been  stored  in  the 
Federal  arsenals  of  the  North;  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  had  had  no  difficulty  in  disposing 
of  government  funds  in  one  direction  or  another 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence    57 

so  that  there  was  practically  no  balance  to  hand 
over  to  his  successor  available  for  the  most  im 
mediate  necessities  of  the  new  administration. 

One  of  the  sayings  quoted  from  Washington 
during  these  weeks  was  the  answer  given  by 
Count  Gurowski  to  the  inquiry,  "Is  there  anything 
in  addition  this  morning?"  "No,"  said  Gurow 
ski,  "it  is  all  in  subtraction. " 

By  the  day  of  the  inaugural,  the  secession 
of  seven  States  was  an  accomplished  fact  and 
the  government  of  the  Confederacy  had  already 
been  organised  in  Montgomery.  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  had  so  far  modified  his  original  position 
that  he  had  accepted  the  post  of  Vice- President 
and  in  his  own  inaugural  address  had  used 
the  phrase,  "Slavery  is  the  corner-stone  of  our 
new  nation,"  a  phrase  that  was  to  make  much 
mischief  in  Europe  for  the  hopes  of  the  new 
Confederacy. 

In  the  first  inaugural,  one  of  the  great  addresses 
in  a  noteworthy  series,  Lincoln  presented  to  the 
attention  of  the  leaders  of  the  South  certain  very 
trenchant  arguments  against  the  wisdom  of 
their  course.  He  says  of  secession  for  the  purpose 
of  preserving  the  institution  of  slavery: 

"You  complain  that  under  the  government  of  the 
United  States  your  slaves  have  from  time  to  time 


58  Abraham  Lincoln 

escaped  across  your  borders  and  have  not  been  re 
turned  to  you.  Their  value  as  property  has  been 
lessened  by  the  fact  that  adjoining  your  Slave  States 
were  certain  States  inhabited  by  people  who  did  not 
believe  in  your  institution.  How  is  this  condition 
going  to  be  changed  by  war  even  under  the  assump 
tion  that  the  war  may  be  successful  in  securing  your 
independence?  Your  slave  territory  will  still  adjoin 
territory  inhabited  by  free  men  who  are  inimical  to 
your  institution;  but  these  men  will  no  longer  be 
bound  by  any  of  the  restrictions  which  have  obtained 
under  the  Constitution.  They  will  not  have  to  give 
consideration  to  the  rights  of  slave-owners  who  are 
fellow-citizens.  Your  slaves  will  escape  as  before 
and  you  will  have  no  measure  of  redress.  Your 
indignation  may  produce  further  wars,  but  the  wars 
can  but  have  the  same  result  until  finally,  after 
indefinite  loss  of  life  and  of  resources,  the  institution 
will  have  been  hammered  out  of  existence  by  the 
inevitable  conditions  of  existing  civilisation." 

Lincoln  points  out  further  in  this  same  address 
the  difference  between  his  responsibilities  and 
those  of  the  Southern  leaders  who  are  organis 
ing  for  war.  "You, "  he  says,  "have  no  oath 
registered  in  Heaven  to  destroy  this  government, 
while  I  have  the  most  solemn  oath  to  preserve, 
direct,  and  defend  it. " 

"It  was  not  necessary,"  says  Lincoln,  "for  the  Con- 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence    59 

stitution  to  contain  any  provision  expressly. forbidding 
the  disintegration  of  the  state;  perpetuity  and  the 
right  to  maintain  self-existence  will  be  considered 
as  a  fundamental  law  of  all  national  government. 
If  the  theory  be  accepted  that  the  United  States 
was  an  association  or  federation  of  communities, 
the  creation  or  continued  existence  of  such  federation 
must  rest  upon  contract;  and  before  such  contract 
can  be  rescinded,  the  consent  is  required  of  both  or  of 
all  of  the  parties  assenting  to  it." 

He  closes  with  the  famous  invocation  to  the  fellow- 
Americans  of  the  South  against  whom  throughout 
the  whole  message  there  had  not  been  one  word 
of  bitterness  or  rancour:  "We  are  not  enemies 
but  friends.  We  must  not  be  enemies.  Though 
passion  may  have  strained  our  relations,  it  must 
not  break  our  bonds  of  affection. " 

It  was,  however,  too  late  for  argument,  and 
too  late  for  invocations  of  friendship.  The  issue 
had  been  forced  by  the  South  and  the  war  for 
which  the  leaders  of  the  South  had  for  months, 
if  not  for  years,  been  making  preparation  was 
now  to  be  begun  by  Southern  action.  It  remained 
to  make  clear  to  the  North,  where  the  people  up 
to  the  last  moment  had  been  unwilling  to  believe 
in  the  possibility  of  civil  war,  that  the  nation 
could  be  preserved  only  by  fighting  for  its  exist- 


60  Abraham  Lincoln 

ence.  It  remained  to  organise  the  men  of  the 
North  into  armies  which  should  be  competent 
to  carry  out  this  tremendous  task  of  maintaining 
the  nation's  existence. 

It  was  just  after  the  great  inaugural  and  when 
his  head  must  have  been  full  of  cares  and  his 
hands  of  work,  that  Lincoln  took  time  to  write  a 
touching  little  note  that  I  find  in  his  correspond 
ence.  It  was  addressed  to  a  boy  who  had 
evidently  spoken  with  natural  pride  of  having 
met  the  President  and  whose  word  had  been 
questioned : 

"THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  March  18,  1861. 
"I  did  see  and  talk  in  May  last  at  Springfield, 
Illinois,  with  Master  George  Edward  Patten. " 

With  the  beginning  of  the  work  of  the  admin 
istration,  came  trouble  with  the  members  of  the 
Cabinet.  The  several  secretaries  were,  in  form  at 
least,  the  choice  of  the  President,  but  as  must 
always  be  the  case  in  the  shaping  of  a  Cabinet, 
and  as  was  particularly  necessary  at  a  time  when 
it  was  of  first  importance  to  bring  into  harmoni 
ous  relations  all  of  the  political  groups  of  the 
North  which  were  prepared  to  be  loyal  to  the 
government,  the  men  who  took  office  in  the  first 
Cabinet  of  Lincoln  represented  not  any  personal 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence    61 

preference  of  the  President,  but  political  or 
national  requirements.  The  Secretary  of  State, 
Mr.  Seward,  had,  as  we  know,  been  Lincoln's 
leading  opponent  for  the  Presidential  nomina 
tion  and  had  expressed  with  some  freedom  of 
criticism  his  disappointment  that  he,  the  natural 
leader  of  the  party,  should  be  put  to  one  side  for 
an  uncultivated,  inexperienced  Westerner.  Mr. 
Seward  possessed  both  experience  and  culture; 
more  than  this,  he  was  a  scholar,  and  came  of  a 
long  line  of  gentlefolk.  He  had  public  spirit, 
courage,  legitimate  political  ambition,  and  some 
of  the  qualities  of  leadership.  His  nature  was, 
however,  not  quite  large  enough  to  stand  the 
pressure  of  political  disappointment  nor  quite 
elastic  enough  to  develop  rapidly  under  the 
tremendous  urgency  of  absolutely  new  require 
ments.  It  is  in  evidence  that  more  than  once 
in  the  management  of  the  complex  and  serious 
difficulties  of  the  State  Department  during  the 
years  of  war,  Seward  lost  his  head.  It  is  also 
on  record  that  the  wise-minded  and  fair-minded 
President  was  able  to  supply  certain  serious  gaps 
and  deficiencies  in  the  direction  of  the  work  of 
the  Department,  and  further  that  his  service 
was  so  rendered  as  to  save  the  dignity  and  the 
repute  of  the  Secretary.  Seward 's  subjectivity, 


62  Abraham  Lincoln 

not  to  say  vanity,  was  great,  and  it  took  some 
little  time  before  he  was  able  to  realise  that  his 
was  not  the  first  mind  or  the  strongest  will-power 
in  the  new  administration.  On  the  first  of  April, 
1 86 1,  less  than  thirty  days  after  the  organisation 
of  the  Cabinet,  Seward  writes  to  Lincoln  com 
plaining  that  the  "government  had  as  yet  no 
policy ;  that  its  action  seemed  to  be  simply  drift 
ing";  that  there  was  a  lack  of  any  clear- minded 
control  in  the  direction  of  affairs  within  the 
Cabinet,  in  the  presentation  to  the  people  of  the 
purposes  of  the  government,  and  in  the  shaping 
of  the  all-important  relations  with  foreign  states. 
"Who,"  said  Seward,  "is  to  control  the  national 
policy?"  The  letter  goes  on  to  suggest  that 
Mr.  Seward  is  willing  to  take  the  responsibility, 
leaving,  if  needs  be,  the  credit  to  the  nominal 
chief.  The  letter  was  a  curious  example  of  the 
weakness  and  of  the  bumptiousness  of  the  man, 
while  it  gave  evidence  also,  it  is  fair  to  say,  of 
a  real  public-spirited  desire  that  things  should 
go  right  and  that  the  nation  should  be  saved. 
It  was  evident  that  he  had  as  yet  no  adequate 
faith  in  the  capacity  of  the  President. 

Lincoln's  answer  was  characteristic  of  the 
man.  There  was  no  irritation  with  the  bumptious 
ness,  no  annoyance  at  the  lack  of  confidence  on 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence    63 

the  part  of  his  associate.  He  states  simply: 
''There  must,  of  course,  be  control  and  the  respon 
sibility  for  this  control  must  rest  with  me." 
He  points  out  further  that  the  general  policy 
of  the  administration  had  been  outlined  in  the 
inaugural,  that  no  action  since  taken  had  been 
inconsistent  with  this.  The  necessary  prepara 
tions  for  the  defence  of  the  government  were  in 
train  and,  as  the  President  trusted,  were  being 
energetically  pushed  forward  by  the  several 
department  heads.  "I  have  a  right,"  said 
Lincoln,  "to  expect  loyal  co-operation  from 
my  associates  in  the  Cabinet.  I  need  their 
counsel  and  the  nation  needs  the  best  service  that 
can  be  secured  from  our  united  wisdom."  The 
letter  of  Seward  was  put  away  and  appears 
never  to  have  been  referred  to  between  the  two 
men.  It  saw  the  light  only  after  the  President's 
death.  If  he  had  lived  it  might  possibly  have 
been  suppressed  altogether.  A  month  later, 
Seward  said  to  a  friend,  "There  is  in  the  Cabinet 
but  one  vote  and  that  is  cast  by  the  President. " 
The  post  next  in  importance  under  the  existing 
war  conditions  was  that  of  Secretary  of  War. 
The  first  man  to  hold  this  post  was  Simon  Cameron 
of  Pennsylvania.  Cameron  was  very  far  from 
being  a  friend  of  Lincoln's.  The  two  men  had 


64  Abraham  Lincoln 

had  no  personal  relations  and  what  Lincoln 
knew  of  him  he  liked  not  at  all.  The  appointment 
had  been  made  under  the  pressure  of  the  Republi 
cans  of  Pennsylvania,  a  State  whose  support  was, 
of  course,  all  important  for  the  administration. 
It  was  not  the  first  nor  the  last  time  that  the 
Republicans  of  this  great  State,  whose  Republi 
canism  seems  to  be  much  safer  than  its  judgment, 
have  committed  themselves  to  unworthy  and 
undesirable  representatives,  men  who  were  not 
fitted  to  stand  for  Pennsylvania  and  who  were 
neither  willing  nor  able  to  be  of  any  service  to 
the  country.  The  appointment  of  Cameron  had, 
as  appears  from  the  later  history,  been  promised 
to  Pennsylvania  by  Judge  Davis  in  return  for 
the  support  of  the  Pennsylvania  delegation  for 
the  nomination  of  Lincoln.  Lincoln  knew  nothing 
of  the  promise  and  was  able  to  say  with  truth, 
and  to  prove,  that  he  had  authorised  no  promises 
and  no  engagements  whatsoever.  He  had,  in 
fact,  absolutely  prohibited  Davis  and  the  one 
or  two  other  men  who  were  supposed  to  have 
some  right  to  speak  for  him  in  the  convention, 
from  the  acceptance  of  any  engagements  or 
obligations  whatsoever.  Davis  made  the  pro 
mise  to  Pennsylvania  on  his  own  responsibility 
and  at  his  own  risk ;  Lincoln  felt  under  too  much 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence    65 

obligation  to  Davis  for  personal  service  and  for 
friendly  loyalty  to  be  willing,  when  the  claim 
was  finally  pressed,  to  put  it  to  one  side  as  un 
warranted.  The  appointment  of  Cameron  was 
made  and  proved  to  be  expensive  for  the  efficiency 
of  the  War  Department  and  for  the  repute  of  the 
administration.  It  became  necessary  within  a 
comparatively  short  period  to  secure  his  resigna 
tion.  It  was  in  evidence  that  he  was  trafficking 
in  appointments  and  in  contracts.  He  was  re 
placed  by  Edwin  M.  Stanton,  who  was  known 
later  as  ''the  Carnot  of  the  War."  Stanton's 
career  as  a  lawyer  had  given  him  no  direct  expe 
rience  of  army  affairs.  He  showed,  however, 
exceptional  ability,  great  will  power,  and  an 
enormous  capacity  for  work.  He  was  ambitious, 
self-willed,  and  most  arbitrary  in  deed  and  in 
speech.  The  difficulty  with  Stanton  was  that 
he  was  as  likely  to  insult  and  to  browbeat  some 
loyal  supporter  of  the  government  as  to  bring 
to  book,  and,  when  necessary,  to  crush,  greedy 
speculators  and  disloyal  tricksters.  His  judg 
ment  in  regard  to  men  was  in  fact  very  often 
at  fault.  He  came  into  early  and  unnecessary 
conflict  with  his  chief  and  he  found  there  a  will 
stronger  than  his  own.  The  respect  of  the  two 
men  for  each  other  grew  into  a  cordial  regard. 


66  Abraham  Lincoln 

Each  recognised  the  loyality  of  purpose  and  the 
patriotism  by  which  the  actions  of  both  were 
influenced.  Lincoln  was  able  to  some  extent  to 
soften  and  to  modify  the  needless  truculency  of 
the  great  War  Secretary,  and  notwithstanding  a 
good  deal  of  troublesome  friction,  armies  were 
organised  and  the  troops  were  sent  to  the  front. 
The  management  of  the  Treasury,  a  respon 
sibility  hardly  less  in  importance  under  the  war 
conditions  than  that  of  the  organisation  of  the 
armies,  was  placed  in  the  hands  of  Senator  Chase. 
He  received  from  his  precursor  an  empty  trea 
sury  while  from  the  administration  came  demands 
for  immediate  and  rapidly  increasing  weekly  sup 
plies  of  funds.  The  task  came  upon  him  first 
of  establishing  a  national  credit  and  secondly 
of  utilising  this  credit  for  loans  such  as  the  civilised 
world  had  not  before  known.  The  expenditures 
extended  by  leaps  and  bounds  until  by  the  middle 
of  1864  they  had  reached  the  sum  of  $2,000,000 
a  day.  Blunders  were  made  in  large  matters 
and  in  small,  but,  under  the  circumstances, 
blunders  were  not  to  be  avoided  and  the  chief 
purpose  was  carried  out.  A  sufficient  credit 
was  established,  first  with  the  citizens  at  home 
and  later  with  investors  abroad,  to  make  a  market 
for  the  millions  of  bonds  in  the  two  great  issues, 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence    67 

the  so-called  seven-thirties  and  five-twenties. 
The  sales  of  these  bonds,  together  with  a  wide- 
reaching  and,  in  fact,  unduly  complex  system 
of  taxation,  secured  the  funds  necessary  for  the 
support  of  the  army  and  the  navy.  At  the  close 
of  the  War,  the  government,  after  meeting  this 
expenditure,  had  a  national  war  debt  of  some 
thing  over  four  thousand  millions  of  dollars. 
The  gross  indebtedness  resulting  from  the  War 
was  of  course,  however,  much  larger  because 
each  State  had  incurred  war  expenditures  and 
counties  as  well  as  States  had  issued  bonds  for 
the  payment  of  bounties,  etc.  The  criticism 
was  made  at  the  time  by  the  opponents  of  the 
financial  system  which  was  shaped  by  the  Com 
mittee  of  Ways  and  Means  in  co-operation  with 
the  Secretary,  a  criticism  that  has  often  been  re 
peated  since,  that  the  War  expenditure  would  have 
been  much  less  if  the  amounts  needed  beyond 
what  could  be  secured  by  present  taxation  had 
been  supplied  entirely  by  the  proceeds  of  bonds. 
In  addition,  however,  to  the  issues  of  bonds,  the 
government  issued  currency  to  a  large  amount, 
which  was  made  legal  tender  and  which  on  the 
face  of  it  was  not  made  subject  to  redemption. 
In  addition  to  the  bills  ranging  in  denomination 
from  one  dollar  to  one  thousand,  the  government 


68  Abraham  Lincoln 

brought  into  distribution  what  was  called  "postal 
currency."  I  landed  in  New  York  in  August, 
1862,  having  returned  from  a  University  in 
Germany  for  the  purpose  of  enlisting  in  the  army. 
I  was  amused  to  see  my  father  make  payment 
in  the  restaurant  for  my  first  lunch  in  postage 
stamps.  He  picked  the  requisite  number,  or 
the  number  that  he  believed  would  be  requisite, 
from  a  ball  of  stamps  which  had,  under  the 
influence  of  the  summer  heat,  stuck  together 
so  closely  as  to  be  very  difficult  to  handle.  Many 
of  the  stamps  were  in  fact  practically  destroyed 
and  were  unavailable.  Some  question  arose  be 
tween  the  restaurant  keeper  and  my  father  as 
to  the  availability  of  one  or  two  of  the  stamps 
that  had  been  handed  over.  My  father  explained 
to  me  that  immediately  after  the  outbreak  of 
the  War,  specie,  including  even  the  nickels  and 
copper  pennies,  had  disappeared  from  circulation, 
and  the  people  had  been  utilising  for  the  small 
change  necessary  for  current  operations  the 
postage  stamps,  a  use  which,  in  connection  with 
the  large  percentage  of  destruction,  was  profit 
able  to  the  government,  but  extravagant  for  the 
community.  A  little  later,  the  postal  depart 
ment  was  considerate  enough  to  bring  into  print 
a  series  of  postage  stamps  without  any  gum  on 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence    69 

the  back.  These  could,  of  course,  be  handled 
more  easily,  but  were  still  seriously  perishable. 
Towards  the  close  of  the  year,  the  Treasury 
department  printed  from  artistically  engraved 
plates  a  baby  currency  in  notes  of  about  two  and 
a  half  inches  long  by  one  and  a  half  inches  wide. 
The  denominations  comprised  ten  cents,  fifteen 
cents,  twenty-five  cents,  fifty  cents,  and  seventy- 
five  cents.  The  fifteen  cents  and  the  seventy- 
five  cents  were  not  much  called  for,  and  were 
probably  not  printed  more  than  once.  They 
would  now  be  scarce  as  curiosities.  The  postal 
currency  was  well  printed  on  substantial  paper, 
but  in  connection  with  the  large  requirement 
for  handling  that  is  always  placed  upon  small 
currency,  these  little  paper  notes  became  very 
dirty  and  were  easily  used  up.  The  government 
must  have  made  a  large  profit  from  the  percentage 
that  was  destroyed.  The  necessary  effect  of  this 
distribution  of  government  "I.  O.  U.'s,"  based 
not  upon  any  redemption  fund  of  gold  but  merely 
upon  the  general  credit  of  the  government,  was 
to  appreciate  the  value  of  gold.  In  June,  1863, 
just  before  the  battle  of  Gettysburg,  the  depre 
ciation  of  this  paper  currency,  which  represented 
of  course  the  appreciation  of  gold,  was  in  the 
ratio  of  100  to  2  90.  It  happened  that  the  number 


70  Abraham  Lincoln 

290,  which  marked  the  highest  price  reached  by 
gold  during  the  War,  was  the  number  that  had 
been  given  in  Laird's  ship-yard  (on  the  Mersey) 
to  the  Confederate  cruiser  Alabama. 

Chase  was  not  only  a  hard-working  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  but  an  ambitious,  active-minded, 
and  intriguing  politician.  He  represented  in  the 
administration  the  more  extreme  anti-slavery 
group.  He  was  one  of  those  who  favoured  from 
the  beginning  immediate  action  on  the  part  of 
the  government  in  regard  to  the  slaves  in  the 
territory  that  was  still  controlled  by  the  govern 
ment.  It  is  doubtless  the  case  that  he  held  these 
anti-slavery  views  as  a  matter  of  honest  convic 
tion.  It  is  in  evidence  also  from  his  correspon 
dence  that  he  connected  with  these  views  the 
hope  and  the  expectation  of  becoming  President. 
His  scheming  for  the  nomination  for  1864  was 
carried  on  with  the  machinery  that  he  had  at 
his  disposal  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The 
issues  between  Chase  and  Seward  and  between 
Chase  and  Stanton  were  many  and  bitter.  The 
pressure  on  the  part  of  the  conservative  Repub 
licans  to  get  Chase  out  of  the  Cabinet  was  con 
siderable.  Lincoln,  believing  that  his  service 
was  valuable,  refused  to  be  influenced  by  any 
feeling  of  personal  antagonism  or  personal  rivalry. 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence    71 

He  held  on  to  the  Secretary  until  the  last  year 
of  the  War,  when  deciding  that  the  Cabinet  could 
then  work  more  smoothly  without  him,  he  accepted 
his  resignation.  Even  then,  however,  although 
he  had  had  placed  in  his  hands  a  note  indicating 
a  measure  of  what  might  be  called  personal 
disloyalty  on  the  part  of  Chase,  Lincoln  was 
unwilling  to  lose  his  service  for  the  country  and 
appointed  him  as  Chief  Justice. 

Montgomery  Blair  was  put  into  the  Cabinet  as 
Postmaster-General  more  particularly  as  the  re 
presentative  of  the  loyalists  of  the  Border  States. 
His  father  was  a  leader  in  politics  in  Missouri,  in 
which  the  family  had  long  been  of  importance. 
His  brother,  Frank  P.  Blair,  served  with  credit  in 
the  army,  reaching  the  rank  of  Major-General. 
The  Blair  family  was  quite  ready  to  fight  for 
the  Union,  but  was  very  unwilling  to  do  any 
fighting  for  the  black  man.  They  wanted  the 
Union  restored  as  it  had  been,  Missouri  Com 
promise  and  all.  It  was  Blair  who  had  occa 
sion  from  time  to  time  to  point  out,  and  with 
perfect  truth,  that  if,  through  the  influence  of 
Chase  and  of  the  men  back  of  Chase  in  Massachu 
setts  and  northern  Ohio,  immediate  action  should 
be  taken  to  abolish  slavery  in  the  Border  States, 
fifty  thousand  men  who  had  marched  out  of 


72  Abraham  Lincoln 

those  States  to  the  support  of  the  Union  might 
be  and  probably  would  be  recalled.  "By  a 
stroke  of  the  pen,"  said  Blair,  "Missouri,  eastern 
Tennessee,  western  Maryland,  loyal  Kentucky, 
now  loyally  supporting  the  cause  of  the  nation, 
will  be  thrown  into  the  arms  of  the  Confederacy. " 
During  the  first  two  years  of  the  War,  and  in 
fact  up  to  September,  1863,  the  views  of  Blair 
and  his  associates  prevailed,  and  with  the  fuller 
history  before  us,  we  may  conclude  that  it  was 
best  that  they  should  have  prevailed.  This  was, 
at  least,  the  conclusion  of  Lincoln,  the  one  man 
who  knew  no  sectional  prejudices,  who  had  before 
him  all  the  information  and  all  the  arguments, 
and  who  had  upon  him  the  pressure  from  all 
quarters.  It  was  not  easy  under  the  circum 
stances  to  keep  peace  between  Blair  and  Chase. 
Probably  no  man  but  Lincoln  could  have  met 
the  requirement. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  Gideon  Welles, 
of  Connecticut,  while  not  a  man  of  brilliancy 
or  of  great  initiative,  appears  to  have  done  his 
part  quietly  and  effectively  in  the  great  work 
of  the  building  and  organising  of  a  new  fleet. 
He  contributed  nothing  to  the  friction  of  the 
Cabinet  and  he  was  from  the  beginning  a  loyal 
supporter  of  the  President.  What  we  know  now 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence    73 

about  the  issues  that  arose  between  the  different 
members  of  the  Cabinet  family  comes  to  us 
chiefly  through  the  Diary  of  Welles,  who  has  de 
scribed  with  apparent  impartiality  the  idiosyn 
crasies  of  each  of  the  secretaries  and  whose 
references  to  the  tact,  patience,  and  gracefully 
exercised  will-power  of  the  President  are  fully 
in  line  with  the  best  estimates  of  Lincoln's 
character. 

One  of  the  first  and  most  difficult  tasks  con 
fronting  the  President  and  his  secretaries  in  the 
organisation  of  the  army  and  of  the  navy  was 
in  the  matter  of  the  higher  appointments.  The 
army  had  always  been  a  favourite  provision  for 
the  men  from  the  South.  The  representatives 
of  Southern  families  were,  as  a  rule,  averse  to 
trade  and  there  were,  in  fact,  under  the  more 
restricted  conditions  of  business  in  the  Southern 
States,  comparatively  few  openings  for  trading  on 
the  larger  or  mercantile  scale.  As  a  result  of  this 
preference,  the  cadetships  in  West  Point  and  the 
commissions  in  the  army  had  been  held  in  much 
larger  proportion  (according  to  the  population) 
by  men  of  Southern  birth.  This  was  less  the 
case  in  the  navy  because  the  marine  interests  of 
New  England  and  of  the  Middle  States  had  edu 
cated  a  larger  number  of  Northern  men  for  naval 


74  Abraham  Lincoln 

interests.  When  the  war  began,  a  very  consider 
able  number  of  the  best  trained  and  most  valuable 
officers  in  the  army  resigned  to  take  part  with 
their  States.  The  army  lost  the  service  of  men 
like  Lee,  Johnston,  Beauregard,  and  many  others. 
A  few  good  Southerners,  such  as  Thomas  of 
Virginia  and  Anderson  of  Kentucky,  took  the 
ground  that  their  duty  to  the  Union  and  to  the 
flag  was  greater  than  their  obligation  to  their 
State.  In  the  navy,  Maury,  Semmes,  Buchanan, 
and  other  men  of  ability  resigned  their  commis 
sions  and  devoted  themselves  to  the  (by  no  means 
easy)  task  of  building  up  a  navy  for  the  South  5 
but  Farragut  of  Tennessee  remained  with  the 
navy  to  carry  the  flag  of  his  country  to  New 
Orleans  and  to  Mobile. 

It  was  easy  and  natural  during  the  heat  of 
1 86 1  to  characterise  as  traitors  the  men  who 
went  with  their  States  to  fight  against  the  flag 
of  their  country.  Looking  at  the  matter  now, 
forty-seven  years  later,  we  are  better  able  to 
estimate  the  character  and  the  integrity  of  the 
motives  by  which  they  were  actuated.  We  do 
not  need  to-day  to  use  the  term  traitors  for  men 
like  Lee  and  Johnston.  It  was  not  at  all  unnatural 
that  with  their  understanding  of  the  government 
of  the  States  in  which  they  had  been  born,  and 


Maintenance  of  National  Existence   75 

with  their  belief  that  these  States  had  a  right 
to  take  action  for  themselves,  they  should  have 
decided  that  their  obligation  lay  to  the  State 
rather  than  to  what  they  had  persisted  in  think 
ing  of  not  as  a  nation  but  as  a  mere  confederation. 
We  may  rather  believe  that  Lee  was  as  honest 
in  his  way  as  Thomas  and  Farragut  in  theirs, 
but  the  view  that  the  United  States  is  a  nation 
has  been  maintained  through  the  loyal  services 
of  the  men  who  held  with  Thomas  and  with 
Farragut. 


THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

ON  April  12 ,  1861,  came  with  the  bombardment 
of  Fort  Sumter  the  actual  beginning  of  the  War. 
The  foreseeing  shrewdness  of  Lincoln  had  resisted 
all  suggestions  for  any  such  immediate  action 
on  the  part  of  the  government  as  would  place 
upon  the  North  the  responsibility  for  the  opening 
of  hostilities.  Shortly  after  the  fall  of  Sumter, 
a  despatch  was  drafted  by  Seward  for  the  guidance 
of  American  ministers  abroad.  The  first  reports 
in  regard  to  the  probable  action  of  European 
governments  gave  the  impression  that  the  sym 
pathy  of  these  governments  was  largely  with  the 
South.  In  France  and  England,  expressions  had 
been  used  by  leading  officials  which  appeared 
to  foreshadow  an  early  recognition  of  the  Con 
federacy.  Seward 's  despatch  as  first  drafted 
was  unwisely  angry  and  truculent  in  tone.  If 
brought  into  publication,  it  would  probably  have 
increased  the  antagonism  of  the  men  who  were 

76 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War        77 

ruling  England.  It  appeared  in  fact  to  foreshadow 
war  with  England.  Seward  had  assumed  that 
England  was  going  to  take  active  part  with  the 
South  and  wTas  at  once  throwing  down  the  gauntlet 
of  defiance.  It  was  Lincoln  who  insisted  that 
this  was  no  time,  whatever  might  be  the  provoca 
tion,  for  the  United  States  to  be  shaking  its  fist 
at  Europe.  The  despatch  was  reworded  and  the 
harsh  and  angry  expressions  were  eliminated. 
The  right  claimed  by  the  United  States,  in  com 
mon  with  all  nations,  to  maintain  its  own  exis 
tence  was  set  forth  with  full  force,  while  it  was 
also  made  clear  that  the  nation  was  strong  enough 
to  maintain  its  rights  against  all  foes  whether 
within  or  without  its  boundaries.  It  is  rather 
strange  to  recall  that  throughout  the  relations 
of  the  two  men,  it  was  the  trained  and  scholarly 
statesman  of  the  East  who  had  to  be  repressed 
for  unwise  truculency  and  that  the  repression 
was  done  under  the  direction  of  the  comparatively 
inexperienced  representative  of  the  West,  the 
man  who  had  been  dreaded  by  the  conservative 
Republicans  of  New  York  as  likely  to  introduce 
into  the  national  policy  "wild  and  woolly" 
notions. 

In  Lincoln's  first  message  to  Congress,  he  asks 
the    following    question:     "Must    a    government 


?8  Abraham  Lincoln 

be  of  necessity  too  strong  for  the  liberties  of  its 
own  people  or  too  weak  to  maintain  its  own 
existence?  Is  there  in  all  republics  this  inherent 
weakness?"  The  people  of  the  United  States 
were  able  under  the  wise  leadership  of  Lincoln 
to  answer  this  question  "no."  Lincoln  begins 
at  once  with  the  public  utterances  of  the  first 
year  of  the  War  to  take  the  people  of  the  United 
States  into  his  confidence.  He  is  their  repre 
sentative,  their  servant.  He  reasons  out  before 
the  people,  as  if  it  constituted  a  great  jury,  the 
analysis  of  their  position,  of  their  responsibilities, 
and  the  grounds  on  which  as  their  representative 
this  or  that  decision  is  arrived  at.  Says  Schurz: 
''Lincoln  wielded  the  powers  of  government 
when  stern  resolution  and  relentless  force  were 
the  order  of  the  day,  and,  won  and  ruled  the 
popular  mind  and  heart  by  the  tender  sympathies 
of  his  nature. " 

The  attack  on  Sumter  placed  upon  the  admin 
istration  the  duty  of  organising  at  once  for  the 
contest  now  inevitable  the  forces  of  the  country. 
This  work  of  organisation  came  at  best  but  late 
because  those  who  were  fighting  to  break  up  the 
nation  had  their  preparations  well  advanced. 
The  first  call  for  troops  directed  the  governors 
of  the  loyal  States  to  supply  seventy-five  thou- 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War        79 

sand  men  for  the  restoration  of  the  authority 
of  the  government.  Massachusetts  was  the  first 
State  to  respond  by  despatching  to  the  front, 
within  twenty-four  hours  of  the  publication  of 
the  call,  its  Sixth  Regiment  of  Militia ;  the  Seventh 
of  New  York  started  twenty-four  hours  later. 
The  history  of  the  passage  of  the  Sixth  through 
Baltimore,  of  the  attack  upon  the  columns,  and 
of  the  deaths,  in  the  resulting  affray,  of  soldiers 
and  of  citizens  has  often  been  told.  When  word 
came  to  Washington  that  Baltimore  was  obstruct 
ing  the  passage  of  troops  bound  southward,  troops 
called  for  the  defence  of  the  capital,  the  isolation 
of  the  government  became  sadly  apparent.  For 
a  weary  and  anxious  ten  days,  Lincoln  and  his 
associates  were  dreading  from  morning  to  morning 
the  approach  over  the  long  bridge  of  the  troops 
from  Virginia  whose  camp-fires  could  be  seen 
from  the  southern  windows  of  the  White  House, 
and  were  looking  anxiously  northward  for  the 
arrival  of  the  men  on  whose  prompt  service  the 
safety  of  the  capital  was  to  depend.  I  have 
myself  stood  in  Lincoln's  old  study,  the  windows 
of  which  overlook  the  Potomac,  and  have  recalled 
to  mind  the  fearful  pressure  of  anxiety  that  must 
have  weighed  upon  the  President  during  those 
long  days;  as  looking  across  the  river,  he  could 


8o  Abraham  Lincoln 

trace  by  the  smoke  the  picket  lines  of  the  Virginia 
troops.  He  must  have  thought  of  the  possibility 
that  he  was  to  be  the  last  President  of  the  United 
States,  that  the  torch  handed  over  to  him  by  the 
faltering  hands  of  his  predecessor  was  to  expire 
while  he  was  responsible  for  the  flame.  The 
immediate  tension  was  finally  broken  by  the 
appearance  of  the  weary  and  battered  companies 
of  the  Massachusetts  troops  and  the  arrival  two 
days  later,  by  the  way  of  Annapolis,  of  the  New 
York  Seventh  with  an  additional  battalion  from 
Boston. 

It  was,  however,  not  only  in  April,  1861,  that 
the  capital  was  in  peril.  The  anxiety  of  the 
President  (never  for  himself  but  only  for  his 
responsibilities)  was  to  be  repeated  in  July, 

1863,  when  Lee  was  in  Maryland,  and  in  July, 

1864,  at  the  time  of  Early's  raid. 

We  may  remember  the  peculiar  burdens  that 
come  upon  the  commander-in-chief  through  his 
position  at  the  rear  of  the  armies  he  is  directing. 
The  rear  of  a  battle  is,  even  in  the  time  of  victory, 
a  place  of  demoralising  influence.  It  takes  a 
man  of  strong  nerve  not  to  lose  heart  when  the 
only  people  with  whom  he  is  in  immediate  contact 
are  those  who  through  disability  or  discouragement 
are  making  their  way  to  the  rear.  The  sutlers,  the 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War        81 

teamsters,  the  wounded  men,  the  panic-struck 
(and  with  the  best  of  soldiers  certain  groups  do  lose 
heart  from  time  to  time,  men  who  in  another 
action  when  started  right  are  ready  to  take  their 
full  share  of  the  fighting) — these  are  the  groups 
that  in  any  action  are  streaming  to  the  rear. 
It  is  impossible  not  to  be  affected  by  the  under 
mining  of  their  spirits  and  of  their  hopefulness. 
If  the  battle  is  going  wrongly,  if  in  addition  to 
those  who  are  properly  making  their  wray  to  the 
rear,  there  come  also  bodies  of  troops  pushed 
out  of  their  position  who  have  lost  heart  and  who 
have  lost  faith  in  their  commanders,  the  pressure 
towards  demoralisation  is  almost  irresistible. 

We  may  recall  that  during  the  entire  four  years 
of  War,  Lincoln,  the  commander-in-chief,  was 
always  in  the  rear.  Difficult  as  was  the  task 
of  the  men  who  led  columns  into  action,  of  the 
generals  in  the  field  who  had  the  immediate 
responsibility  for  the  direction  of  those  columns 
and  of  the  fighting  line,  it  was  in  no  way  to  be 
compared  with  the  pressure  and  sadness  of  the 
burden  of  the  man  who  stood  back  of  all  the  lines, 
and  to  whom  came  all  the  discouragements,  the 
complaints,  the  growls,  the  criticisms,  the  requisi 
tions  or  demands  for  resources  that  were  not 
available,  the  reports  of  disasters,  sometimes  ex- 


82  Abraham  Lincoln 

aggerated  and  sometimes  unduly  smoothed  over, 
the  futile  suggestions,  the  conflicting  counsels, 
the  indignant  protests,  the  absurd  schemes,  the 
self-seeking  applications,  that  poured  into  the 
White  House  from  all  points  of  the  field  of  action 
and  fiom  all  parts  of  the  Border  States  and  of 
the  North.  The  man  who  during  four  years  could 
stand  that  kind  of  battering  and  pressure  and  who, 
instead  of  having  his  hopefulness  crushed  out  of 
him,  instead  of  losing  heart  or  power  of  direction 
or  the  full  control  of  his  responsibilities,  steadily 
developed  in  patience,  in  strength,  in  width  of 
nature,  and  in  the  wisdom  of  experience,  so 
that  he  was  able  not  only  to  keep  heart  firm 
and  mind  clear  but  to  give  to  the  soldiers  in  the 
front  and  to  the  nation  behind  the  soldiers  the 
influence  of  his  great  heart  and  clear  mind  and 
of  his  firm  purpose,  that  man  had  within  him  the 
nature  of  the  hero.  Selected  in  time  of  need 
to  bear  the  burdens  of  the  nation,  he  was  able 
so  to  fulfil  his  responsibilities  that  he  takes  place 
in  the  world's  history  as  a  leader  of  men. 

In  July,  1 86 1,  one  of  the  special  problems  to 
be  adjusted  was  the  attitude  of  the  Border  States. 
Missouri,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  West  Virginia 
had  not  been  willing  at  the  outset  to  cast  in 
their  lot  with  the  South,  but  they  were  not  pre- 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War       83 

pared  to  give  any  assured  or  active  support  to 
the  authority  of  the  national  government.  The 
Governor  and  the  Legislature  of  Kentucky  is 
sued  a  proclamation  of  neutrality;  they  demanded 
that  the  soil  of  the  State  should  be  respected  and 
that  it  should  not  be  traversed  by  armed  forces 
from  either  side.  The  Governor  of  Missouri,  while 
not  able  to  commit  the  State  to  secession,  did 
have  behind  him  what  was  possibly  a  majority 
of  the  citizens  in  the  policy  of  attempting  to 
prevent  the  Federal  troops  from  entering  the 
State.  Maryland,  or  at  least  eastern  Maryland, 
was  sullen  and  antagonistic.  Thousands  of  the 
Marylanders  had  in  fact  already  made  their 
way  into  Virginia  for  service  with  the  Confederacy. 
On  the  other  hand,  there  were  also  thousands 
of  loyal  citizens  in  these  States  who  were  pre 
pared,  under  proper  guidance  and  conservative 
management,  to  give  their  own  direct  aid  to 
the  cause  of  nationality.  In  the  course  of  the 
succeeding  two  years,  the  Border  States  sent 
into  the  field  in  the  Union  ranks  some  fifty 
thousand  men.  At  certain  points  of  the  conflict, 
the  presence  of  these  Union  men  of  Kentucky, 
Tennessee,  Maryland,  and  Missouri  was  the  de 
ciding  factor.  While  these  men  were  willing  to 
fight  for  the  Union,  they  were  strongly  opposed 


84  Abraham  Lincoln 

to  being  used  for  the  destruction  of  slavery  and 
for  the  freeing  of  the  blacks.  The  acceptance, 
therefore,  of  the  policy  that  was  pressed  by  the 
extreme  anti-slavery  group,  for  immediate  action 
in  regard  to  the  freeing  of  the  slaves,  would  have 
meant  at  once  the  dissatisfaction  of  this  great 
body  of  loyalists  important  in  number  and 
particularly  important  on  account  of  their  geo 
graphical  position.  Lincoln  was  able,  although 
with  no  little  difficulty,  to  hold  back  the  pres 
sure  of  Northern  sentiment  in  regard  to  anti- 
slavery  action  until  the  course  of  the  War  had 
finally  committed  the  loyalists  of  the  Border 
States  to  the  support  of  the  Union.  For  the 
support  of  this  policy,  it  became  necessary  to 
restrain  certain  of  the  leaders  in  the  field  who 
were  mixing  up  civil  and  constitutional  matters 
with  their  military  responsibilities.  Proclama 
tions  issued  by  Fremont  in  Missouri  and  later  by 
Hunter  in  South  Carolina,  giving  freedom  to  the 
slaves  within  the  territory  of  their  departments, 
were  promptly  and  properly  disavowed.  Said 
Lincoln:  "A  general  cannot  be  permitted  to 
make  laws  for  the  district  in  which  he  happens  to 
have  an  army. " 

The  difficulties  in  regard  to  the  matter  of  slavery 
during  the  war  brought  Lincoln  into  active  cor- 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War        85 

respondence  with  men  like  Beecher  and  Greeley, 
anti-slavery  leaders  who  enjoyed  a  large  share 
of  popular  confidence  and  support.  In  Novem 
ber,  1 86 1,  Lincoln  says  of  Greeley:  "His  backing 
is  as  good  as  that  of  an  army  of  one  hundred 
thousand  men."  There  could  be  no  question  of 
the  earnest  loyalty  of  Horace  Greeley.  Under 
his  management,  the  New  York  Tribune  had 
become  a  great  force  in  the  community.  The 
paper  represented  perhaps  more  nearly  than 
any  paper  in  the  country  the  purpose  and  the 
policy  of  the  new  Republican  party.  Unfortu 
nately,  Mr,  Greeley 's  judgment  and  width  of 
view  did  not  develop  with  his  years  and  with  the 
increasing  influence  of  his  journal.  He  became 
unduly  self-sufficient;  he  undertook  not  only  to 
lay  down  a  policy  for  the  guidance  of  the  consti 
tutional  responsibilities  of  the  government,  but 
to  dictate  methods  for  the  campaigns.  The 
Tribune  articles  headed  "On  to  Richmond!" 
while  causing  irritation  to  commanders  in  the 
field  and  confusion  in  the  minds  of  quiet  citizens 
at  home,  were  finally  classed  with  the  things  to 
be  laughed  at.  In  the  later  years  of  the  War, 
the  influence  of  the  Tribune  declined  very  con 
siderably.  Henry  J.  Raymond  with  his  newly 
founded  Times  succeeded  to  some  of  the  power 


86  Abraham  Lincoln 

as    a    journalist    that    had     been    wielded     by 
Greeley. 

In  November,  1861,  occurred  an  incident  which 
for  a  time  threatened  a  very  grave  international 
complication,  a  complication  that  would,  if  un 
wisely  handled,  have  determined  the  fate  of  the 
Republic.  Early  in  the  year,  the  Confederate 
government  had  sent  certain  representatives  across 
the  Atlantic  to  do  what  might  be  practicable  to 
enlist  the  sympathies  of  European  governments, 
or  of  individuals  in  these  governments,  to  make 
a  market  for  the  Confederate  cotton  bonds,  to 
arrange  for  the  purchase  of  supplies  for  the  army 
and  navy,  and  to  secure  the  circulation  of  docu 
ments  presenting  the  case  of  the  South.  Mr. 
Yancey  of  Mississippi  was  the  best-known  of 
this  first  group  of  emissaries.  With  him  was 
associated  Judge  Mann  of  Virginia  and  it  was  Mann 
who  in  November,  1861,  was  in  charge  of  the 
London  office  of  the  Confederacy.  In  this  month, 
Mr.  Davis  appointed  as  successor  to  Mann,  Mr. 
Mason  of  Virginia,  to  whom  was  given  a  more 
formal  authorisation  of  action.  At  the  same 
time,  Judge  Slidell  of  Louisiana  was  appointed 
as  the  representative  to  France.  Mason  and 
Slidell  made  their  way  to  Jamaica  and  sailed 
from  Jamaica  to  Liverpool  in  the  British  mail 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War        87 

steamer  Trent.  Captain  Charles  Wilkes,  in  the 
United  States  frigate  San  Jacinto,  had  been 
watching  the  West  Indies  waters  with  reference 
to  blockade  runners  and  to  Wilkes  came  know 
ledge  of  the  voyage  of  the  two  emissaries.  Wilkes 
took  the  responsibility  of  stopping  the  Trent  when 
she  was  a  hundred  miles  or  more  out  of  Kingston 
and  of  taking  from  her  as  prisoners  the  two 
commissioners.  The  commissioners  were  brought 
to  Boston  and  were  there  kept  under  arrest  await 
ing  the  decision  from  Washington  as  to  their 
status.  This  stopping  on  the  high  seas  of  a 
British  steamer  brought  out  a  great  flood  of 
indignation  in  Great  Britain.  It  gave  to  Palmer- 
ston  and  Russell,  who  were  at  that  time  in  charge 
of  the  government,  the  opportunity  for  which 
they  had  been  looking  to  place  on  the  side  of 
the  Confederacy  the  weight  of  the  influence  of 
Great  Britain.  It  strengthened  the  hopes  of  Louis 
Napoleon  for  carrying  out,  in  conjunction  with 
Great  Britain,  a  scheme  that  he  had  formulated 
under  which  France  was  to  secure  a  western 
empire  in  Mexico,  leaving  England  to  do  what 
she  might  find  convenient  in  the  adjustment 
of  the  affairs  of  the  so-called  United  States. 

The  first  report  secured  from  the  law  officers 
of  the  Crown  took  the  ground  that  the  capture 


88  Abraham   Lincoln 

was  legal  under  international  law  and  under  the 
practice  of  Great  Britain  itself.  This  report 
was,  however,  pushed  to  one  side,  and  Palmerston 
drafted  a  demand  for  the  immediate  surrender 
of  the  commissioners.  This  demand  was  so 
worded  that  a  self-respecting  government  would 
have  had  great  difficulty  in  assenting  to  it  without 
risk  of  forfeiting  support  with  its  own  citizens. 
It  was  in  fact  intended  to  bring  about  a  state  of 
war.  Under  the  wise  influence  of  Prince  Albert, 
Queen  Victoria  refused  to  give  her  approval  to 
the  document.  It  was  reworded  by  Albert  in 
such  fashion  as  to  give  to  the  government  of  the 
United  States  an  opportunity  for  adjustment 
without  loss  of  dignity.  Albert  was  clear  in 
his  mind  that  Great  Britain  ought  not  to  be 
committed  to  war  for  the  destruction  of  the  great 
Republic  of  the  West  and  for  the  establishment 
of  a  state  of  which  the  corner-stone  was  slavery. 
Fortunately,  Victoria  was  quite  prepared  to  ac 
cept  in  this  matter  Albert's  judgment.  Palmer 
ston  protested  and  threatened  resignation,  but 
finally  submitted. 

When  the  news  of  the  capture  of  the  commis 
sioners  came  to  Washington,  Seward  for  once 
was  in  favour  of  a  conservative  rather  than  a 
truculent  course  of  action.  He  advised  that  the 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War        89 

commissioners  should  be  surrendered  at  once 
rather  than  to  leave  to  Great  Britain  the  oppor 
tunity  for  making  a  dictatorial  demand.  Lincoln 
admitted  the  risk  of  such  demand  and  the  dis 
advantage  of  making  the  surrender  under  pressure, 
but  he  took  the  ground  that  if  the  United  States 
waited  for  the  British  contention,  a  certain 
diplomatic  advantage  could  be  gained.  When 
the  demand  came,  Lincoln  was  able,  with  a  re 
wording  (not  for  the  first  time)  of  Seward's  de 
spatch,  to  take  the  ground  that  the  government 
of  the  United  States  was  "well  pleased  that  Her 
Majesty's  government  should  have  finally  accepted 
the  old-time  American  contention  that  vessels 
of  peace  should  not  be  searched  on  the  high 
seas  by  vessels  of  war. "  It  may  be  recalled  that 
the  exercise  of  the  right  of  search  had  been  one  of 
the  most  important  of  the  grievances  which  had 
brought  about  the  War  of  1 8 1 2  -i  8 1 4.  In  the  dis 
cussion  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent  in  1814,  the  English 
and  American  commissioners,  while  agreeing  that 
this  right  of  search  must  be  given  up,  had  not  been 
able  to  arrive  at  a  form  of  words,  satisfactory  to 
both  parties,  for  its  revocation.  Both  sets  of  com 
missioners  were  very  eager  to  bring  their  proceed 
ings  to  a  close.  The  Americans  could  of  course 
not  realise  that  if  they  had  waited  a  few  weeks 


90  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  news  of  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  fought 
in  January,  1815,  would  have  greatly  strength 
ened  their  position.  It  was  finally  agreed  "as 
between  gentlemen"  that  the  right  of  search 
should  be  no  longer  exercised  by  Great  Britain. 
This  right  was,  however,  not  formally  abrogated 
until  December,  1861,  nearly  half  a  century  later. 
This  little  diplomatic  triumph  smoothed  over 
for  the  public  of  the  North  the  annoyance  of 
having  to  accept  the  British  demand.  It  helped 
to  strengthen  the  administration,  which  in  this 
first  year  of  the  War  was  by  no  means  sure  of 
its  foundations.  It  strengthened  also  the  opinion 
of  citizens  generally  in  their  estimate  of  the  wise 
management  and  tact  fulness  of  the  President. 
Some  of  the  most  serious  of  the  perplexities 
that  came  upon  Lincoln  during  the  first  two  years 
of  the  War  were  the  result  of  the  peculiar  combina 
tion  of  abilities  and  disabilities  that  characterised 
General  McClellan.  McClellan's  work  prior  to 
the  War  had  been  that  of  an  engineer.  He  had 
taken  high  rank  at  West  Point  and  later,  resign 
ing  from  the  army,  had  rendered  distinguished 
service  in  civil  engineering.  At  the  time  of  the 
Lincoln-Douglas  debates,  McClellan  was  presi 
dent  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad.  He  was 
a  close  friend  and  backer  of  Douglas  and  he  had 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War        91 

done  what  was  practicable  with  the  all-important 
machinery  of  the  railroad  company  to  render 
comfortable  the  travelling  of  his  candidate  and 
to  insure  his  success.  Returning  to  the  army 
with  the  opening  of  the  War,  he  had  won  success 
in  a  brief  campaign  in  Virginia  in  which  he  was 
opposed  by  a  comparatively  inexperienced  officer 
and  by  a  smaller  force  than  his  own.  Placed  in 
command  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac  shortly 
after  the  Bull  Run  campaign,  he  had  shown 
exceptional  ability  in  bringing  the  troops  into  a 
state  of  organisation.  He  was  probably  the 
best  man  in  the  United  States  to  fit  an  army  for 
action.  There  were  few  engineer  officers  in  the 
army  who  could  have  rendered  better  service 
in  the  shaping  of  fortifications  or  in  the  construc 
tion  of  an  entrenched  position.  He  showed  later 
that  he  was  not  a  bad  leader  for  a  defeated  army 
in  the  supervision  of  the  retreat.  He  had,  how 
ever,  no  real  capacity  for  leadership  in  an  aggres 
sive  campaign.  His  disposition  led  him  to  be 
full  of  apprehension  of  what  the  other  fellow 
was  doing.  He  suffered  literally  from  night 
mares  in  which  he  exaggerated  enormously  the 
perils  in  his  paths,  making  obstacles  where  none 
existed,  multiplying  by  two  or  by  three  the  troops 
against  him,  insisting  upon  the  necessity  of 


92  Abraham   Lincoln 

providing  not  only  for  probable  contingencies 
but  for  very  impossible  contingencies.  He  was 
never  ready  for  an  advance  and  he  always  felt 
proudly  triumphant ,  after  having  come  into  touch 
with  the  enemy,  that  he  had  accomplished  the 
task  of  saving  his  army. 

The  only  thing  about  which  he  was  neither 
apprehensive  nor  doubtful  was  his  ability  as  a 
leader,  whether  military  or  political.  While  he 
found  it  difficult  to  impress  his  will  upon  an 
opponent  in  the  field,  he  was  very  sturdy  with 
his  pen  in  laying  down  the  law  to  the  Commander- 
in-chief  (the  President)  and  in  emphasising  the 
importance  of  his  own  views  not  only  in  things 
military  but  in  regard  to  the  whole  policy  of 
the  government.  The  peculiarity  about  the 
nightmares  and  miscalculations  of  McClellan  was 
that  they  persisted  long  after  the  data  for  their 
correction  were  available.  In  a  book  brought 
into  print  years  after  the  War,  when  the  Con 
federate  rosters  were  easily  accessible  in  Wash 
ington,  McClellan  did  not  hesitate  to  make  the 
same  statements  in  regard  to  the  numbers  of  the 
Confederate  forces  opposed  to  him  that  he  had 
brought  into  the  long  series  of  complaining  letters 
to  Lincoln  in  which  he  demanded  reinforcements 
that  did  not  exist. 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War        93 

The  records  now  show  that  at  the  time  of  the 
slow  advance  of  McClellan's  army  by  the  Williams- 
burg  Peninsula,  General  Magruder  had  been  able, 
with  a  few  thousand  men  and  with  dummy 
guns  made  of  logs,  to  give  the  impression  that  a 
substantial  army  was  blocking  the  way  to  Rich 
mond.  McClellan's  advance  was,  therefore,  made 
with  the  utmost  ''conservatism,"  enabling  General 
Johnston  to  collect  back  of  Magruder  the  army 
that  was  finally  to  drive  McClellan  back  to  his 
base.  It  is  further  in  evidence  from  the  later 
records  that  when  some  weeks  later  General 
Johnston  concentrated  his  army  at  Gaines's  Mill 
upon  Porter,  who  was  separated  from  McClellan 
by  the  Chickahominy,  there  was  but  an  inconsid 
erable  force  between  McClellan  and  Richmond. 

At  the  close  of  the  seven  days'  retreat,  McClellan, 
who  had  with  a  magnificent  army  thrown  away 
a  series  of  positions,  writes  to  Lincoln  that  he 
(Lincoln)  "  had  sacrificed  the  army. "  In  another 
letter,  McClellan  lays  down  the  laws  of  a  national 
policy  with  a  completeness  and  a  dictatorial 
utterance  such  as  would  hardly  have  been  justi 
fied  if  he  had  succeeded  through  his  own  military 
genius  in  bringing  the  War  to  a  close,  but  which, 
coming  from  a  defeated  general,  was  ridiculous 
enough.  Lincoln's  correspondence  with  McClellan 


94  Abraham  Lincoln 

brings  out  the  infinite  patience  of  the  Presi 
dent,  and  his  desire  to  make  sure  that  before 
putting  the  General  to  one  side  as  a  vainglorious 
incompetent,  he  had  been  allowed  the  fullest  pos 
sible  test.  Lincoln  passes  over  without  reference 
and  apparently  without  thought  the  long  series 
of  impertinent  impersonalities  of  McClellan.  In 
this  correspondence,  as  in  all  his  correspondence, 
the  great  captain  showed  himself  absolutely 
devoted  to  the  cause  he  had  in  mind.  Early 
in  the  year,  months  before  the  Peninsular  cam 
paign,  when  McClellan  had  had  the  army  in 
camp  for  a  series  of  months  without  expressing 
the  least  intention  of  action,  Lincoln  had  in 
talking  with  the  Secretary  of  War  used  the  expres 
sion  :  "If  General  McClellan  does  not  want  to  use 
the  army  just  now,  I  would  like  to  borrow  it  for  a 
while. ' '  That  was  as  far  as  the  Commander-in-chief 
ever  went  in  criticism  of  the  General  in  the  field. 
While  operations  in  Virginia,  conducted  by 
a  vacillating  and  vainglorious  engineer  officer, 
gave  little  encouragement,  something  was  being 
done  to  advance  the  cause  of  the  Union  in 
the  West.  In  1862,  a  young  man  named  Grant, 
who  had  returned  to  the  army  and  who  had 
been  trusted  with  the  command  of  a  few  brigades, 
captured  Fort  Donelson  and  thus  opened  the 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War        95 

Tennessee  River  to  the  advance  of  the  army 
southward.  The  capture  of  Fort  Donelson  was 
rendered  possible  by  the  use  of  mortars  and  was 
the  first  occasion  in  the  war  in  which  mortars  had 
been  brought  to  bear.  I  chanced  to  come  into 
touch  with  the  record  of  the  preparation  of  the 
mortars  that  were  supplied  to  Grant's  army  at 
Cairo.  Sometime  in  the  nineties  I  was  sojourning 
with  the  late  Abram  S.  Hewitt  at  his  home  in 
Ringwood,  New  Jersey.  I  noticed,  in  loo  king  out 
from  the  piazza,  a  mortar,  properly  mounted  on  a 
mortar-bed  and  encompassed  by  some  yards  of  a 
great  chain,  placed  on  the  slope  overlooking 
the  little  valley  below,  as  if  to  protect  the  house. 
I  asked  my  host  what  was  the  history  of  this 
piece  of  ordnance.  "Well,"  he  said,  "the  chain 
you  might  have  some  personal  interest  in.  It  is 
a  part  of  the  chain  your  great-uncle  Israel  placed 
across  the  river  at  West  Point  for  the  purpose 
of  blocking  or  at  least  of  checking  the  passage 
of  the  British  vessels.  The  chain  was  forged  here 
in  the  Ringwood  foundry  and  I  have  secured  a 
part  of  it  as  a  memento.  The  mortar  was  given 
to  me  by  President  Lincoln,  as  also  was  the  mortar- 
bed. "  This  report  naturally  brought  out  the 
further  question  as  to  the  grounds  for  the  gift. 
"I  made  this  mortar-bed,"  said  Hewitt,  "together 


96  Abraham  Lincoln 

with  some  others,  and  Lincoln  was  good  enough 
to  say  that  I  had  in  this  work  rendered  a  service 
to  the  State.     It  was  in  December,   1861,  when 
the  expedition  against  Fort  Donelson  and  Fort 
Henry  was  being  organised  at  Fort  Cairo  under 
the  leadership  of  General  Grant.     Grant  reported 
that  the  field-pieces  at  his  command  would  not 
be  effective  against  the  earthworks  that  wrere  to  be 
shelled  and  made  requisition  for  mortars."     The 
mortar  I  may  explain  to  my  unmilitary  readers 
is  a  short  carronade  of  large  bore  and  with  a 
comparatively    short    range.     The    mortar    with 
a  heavy  charge  throws  its  missile  at   a   sharp 
angle  upwards,    so  that,   instead  of  attempting 
to  go  through  an  earthwork,  it  is  thrown  into  the 
enclosure.     The   recoil    from   a    mortar   is   very 
heavy,  necessitating  the  construction  of  a  foun 
dation  called   a   mortar-bed   which  is   not  only 
solid  but  which  possesses  a  certain  amount  of 
elasticity  through  which  the  shock  of  the  recoil 
is  absorbed.     It  is  only  through  the  use  of  such 
a  bed  that  a  mortar  can  be  fired  from  the  deck 
of  a  vessel.     Without  such  protection,  the  shock 
would  smash  through  the  deck  and  might  send 
the  craft  to  the  bottom. 

The    Ordnance    Department    reported  to  the 
Secretary  of  War  and  the  Secretary  to  Lincoln  that 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War       97 

mortars  were  on  hand  but  that  no  mortar-beds 
were  available.  It  was  one  of  the  many  cases  in 
which  the  unpreparedness  of  the  government  had 
left  a  serious  gap  in  the  equipment.  The  further 
report  was  given  to  Lincoln  that  two  or  three 
months'  time  would  be  required  to  manufacture 
the  thirty  mortar-beds  that  were  needed.  A 
delay  of  any  such  period  would  have  blocked 
the  entire  purpose  of  Grant's  expedition.  In  his 
perplexity,  Lincoln  remembered  that  in  his  famous 
visit  to  New  York  two  years  before,  he  had  been 
introduced  to  Mr.  Hewitt,  "a  well-known  iron 
merchant , "  as  * '  a  man  who  does  things. ' '  Lincoln 
telegraphed  to  Hewitt  asking  if  Hewitt  could 
make  thirty  mortar-beds  and  how  long  it  would 
take.  Hewitt  told  me  that  the  message  reached 
him  on  a  Saturday  evening  at  the  house  of  a 
friend.  He  wired  an  acknowledgment  with  the 
word  that  he  would  send  a  report  on  the  following 
day.  Sunday  morning  he  looked  up  the  ordnance 
officer  of  New  York  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
where  the  pattern  mortar-bed  was  kept.  "It  was 
rather  important,  Major,"  said  Hewitt  to  me, 
"that  I  should  have  an  opportunity  of  examining 
this  pattern  for  I  had  never  seen  a  mortar-bed 
in  my  life,  but  this  of  course  I  did  not  admit  to 
the  ordnance  officer."  The  pattern  required  was, 


9^  Abraham  Lincoln 

it  seemed,  in  the  armory  at  Springfield.  Hewitt 
wired  to  Lincoln  asking  that  the  bed  should  be 
forwarded  by  the  night  boat  to  him  in  New  York. 
Hewitt  and  his  men  met  the  boat,  secured  the 
pattern  bed,  and  gave  some  hours  to  puzzling 
over  the  construction.  At  noon  on  Monday, 
Hewitt  wired  to  Lincoln  that  he  could  make  thirty 
mortar-beds  in  thirty  days.  In  another  hour  he 
received  by  wire  instructions  from  Lincoln  to 
go  ahead.  In  twenty-eight  days  he  had  the 
thirty  mortar-beds  in  readiness;  and  Tom  Scott, 
who  had  at  the  time,  very  fortunately  for  the 
country,  taken  charge  of  the  military  transporta 
tion,  had  provided  thirty  flat -cars  for  the  transit 
of  the  mortar-beds  to  Cairo.  The  train  was 
addressed  to  "U.  S.  Grant,  Cairo,"  and  each 
car  contained  a  notification,  painted  in  white 
on  a  black  ground,  "not  to  be  switched  on  the 
penalty  of  death."  That  train  got  through 
and  as  other  portions  of  the  equipment  had  also 
been  delayed ,  the  mortars  were  not  so  very  late. 
Six  schooners,  each  equipped  with  a  mortar, 
were  hurried  up  the  river  to  support  the  attack 
of  the  army  on  Fort  Donelson.  A  first  assault 
had  been  made  and  had  failed.  The  field  artillery 
was,  as  Grant  had  anticipated,  ineffective  against 
the  earthworks,  while  the  fire  of  the  Confederate 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War       99 

infantry,  protected  by  their  works,  had  proved 
most  severe.  The  instant,  however,  that  from 
behind  a  point  on  the  river  below  the  fort  shells 
were  thrown  from  the  schooners  into  the  inner 
circle  of  the  fortifications,  the  Confederate  com 
mander,  Floyd,  recognised  that  the  fort  was 
untenable.  He  slipped  away  that  night  leaving 
his  junior,  General  Buckner,  to  make  terms  with 
Grant,  and  those  terms  were  " unconditional 
surrender,"  which  were  later  so  frequently  con 
nected  with  the  initials  of  U.  S.  G. 

Buckner 's  name  comes  again  into  history  in  a 
pleasant  fashion.  Years  after  the  War,  when 
General  Grant  had,  through  the  rascality  of  a 
Wall  Street  "pirate,"  lost  his  entire  savings, 
Buckner,  himself  a  poor  man,  wrote  begging 
Grant  to  accept  as  a  loan,  "to  be  repaid  at  his 
convenience, "  a  check  enclosed  for  one  thousand 
dollars.  Other  friends  came  to  the  rescue  of 
Grant,  and  through  the  earnings  of  his  own  pen, 
he  was  before  his  death  able  to  make  good  all 
indebtedness  and  to  leave  a  competency  to  his 
widow.  The  check  sent  by  Buckner  was  not 
used,  but  the  prompt  friendliness  was  something 
not  to  be  forgotten. 

Hewitt 's  mortar-beds  were  used  again  a  few 
weeks  later  for  the  capture  of  Island  Number 


ioo  Abraham  Lincoln 

Ten  and  they  also  proved  serviceable,  used  in  the 
same  fashion  from  the  decks  of  schooners,  in 
the  capture  of  Forts  Jackson  and  St.  Philip 
which  blocked  the  river  below  New  Orleans. 
It  was  only  through  the  fire  from  these  schooners, 
which  were  moored  behind  a  point  on  the  river 
below  the  forts,  that  it  was  possible  to  reach  the 
inner  circle  of  the  works. 

I  asked  Hewitt  whether  he  had  seen  Lincoln 
after  this  matter  of  the  mortar-beds.  "Yes," 
said  Hewitt,  "I  saw  him  a  year  later  and  Lincoln's 
action  was  characteristic.  I  was  in  Washington 
and  thought  it  was  proper  to  call  and  pay  my 
respects.  I  was  told  on  reaching  the  White 
House  that  it  was  late  in  the  day  and  that  the 
waiting-room  was  very  full  and  that  I  probably 
should  not  be  reached.  'Well,'  I  said,  'in  that 
case,  I  will  simply  ask  you  to  take  in  my  card. ' 
No  sooner  had  the  card  been  delivered  than  the 
door  of  the  study  opened  and  Lincoln  appeared 
reaching  out  both  hands.  '  Where  is  Air.  Hewitt  ? ' 
he  said ;  *  I  want  to  see,  I  want  to  thank,  the  man 
who  does  things.'  I  sat  with  him  for  a  time, 
a  little  nervous  in  connection  with  the  number 
of  people  who  were  waiting  outside,  but  Lincoln 
would  not  let  me  go.  Finally  he  asked,  'What 
are  you  in  Washington  for?'  'Well,  Mr.  Lin- 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War       101 

coin, '  said  I,  'I  have  some  business  here.  I  want 
to  get  paid  for  those  mortar-beds. '  *  What  ? ' 
said  Lincoln,  'you  have  not  yet  got  what  the 
nation  owes  you?  That  is  disgraceful.'  He 
rang  the  bell  violently  and  sent  an  aid  for  Secre 
tary  Stanton  and  when  the  Secretary  appeared, 
he  was  questioned  rather  sharply.  'How  about 
Mr.  Hewitt's  bill  against  the  War  Department? 
Why  does  he  have  to  wait  for  his  money  ? '  '  Well, 
Mr.  Lincoln,'  said  Stanton,  'the  order  for  those 
mortar-beds  was  given  rather  irregularly.  It 
never  passed  through  the  War  Department  and 
consequently  the  account  when  rendered  could 
not  receive  the  approval  of  any  ordnance  officer, 
and  until  so  approved  could  not  be  paid  by  the 
Treasury.'  'If,'  said  Lincoln,  'I  should  write 
on  that  account  an  order  to  have  it  paid,  do  you 
suppose  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  would  pay 
it?'  'I  suppose  that  he  would,'  said  Stanton. 
The  account  was  sent  for  and  Lincoln  wrote 
at  the  bottom:  'Pay  this  bill  now.  A.  Lincoln.' 
'Now,  Mr.  Stanton,'  said  Lincoln,  'Mr.  Hewitt 
has  been  very  badly  treated  in  this  matter  and 
I  want  you  to  take  a  little  pains  to  see  that  he 
gets  his  money.  I  am  going  to  ask  you  to  go 
over  to  the  Treasury  with  Mr.  Hewitt  and  to  get 
the  proper  signatures  on  this  account  so  that 


102  Abraham  Lincoln 

Mr.  Hewitt  can  carry  a  draft  with  him  back  to 
New  York/  Stanton,  rather  reluctantly,  ac 
cepted  the  instruction  and,"  said  Hewitt,  "he 
walked  with  me  through  the  various  departments 
of  the  Treasury  until  the  final  signature  had  been 
placed  on  the  bill  and  I  was  able  to  exchange 
this  for  a  Treasury  warrant.  I  should,"  said 
Hewitt,  "have  been  much  pleased  to  retain  the 
bill  with  that  signature  of  Lincoln  beneath  the 
words,  *  Pay  this  now.  * 

"Towards  the  end  of  the  War,"  he  continued, 
"when  there  was  no  further  requirement  for 
mortars,  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Lincoln  and  asked  whether 
I  might  buy  a  mortar  with  its  bed.  Lincoln 
replied  promptly  that  he  had  directed  the  Ord 
nance  Department  to  send  me  mortar  and  bed 
with  'the  compliments  of  the  administration. ' 
I  am  puzzled  to  think,"  said  Hewitt,  "how  that 
particular  item  in  the  accounts  of  the  Ordnance 
Department  was  ever  adjusted,  but  I  am  very 
glad  to  have  this  reminiscence  of  the  War  and 
of  the  President." 

Lincoln's  relations  with  McClellan  have  already 
been  touched  upon.  There  would  not  be  space 
in  this  paper  to  refer  in  detail  to  the  action  taken 
by  Lincoln  with  other  army  commanders  East 
and  West.  The  problem  that  confronted  the 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War       103 

Commander-in-chief  of  selecting  the  right  leaders 
for  this  or  that  undertaking,  and  of  promoting 
the  men  who  gave  evidence  of  the  greater  capacity 
that  was  required  for  the  larger  armies  that  were 
being  placed  in  the  field,  was  one  of  no  little 
difficulty.  The  reader  of  history,  looking  back 
to-day,  with  the  advantage  of  the  full  record  of 
the  careers  of  the  various  generals,  is  tempted 
to  indulge  in  easy  criticism  of  the  blunders  made 
by  the  President.  Why  did  the  President  put 
up  so  long  with  the  vaingloriousness  and  ineffec 
tiveness  of  McClellan?  Why  should  he  have 
accepted  even  for  one  brief  and  unfortunate 
campaign  the  service  of  an  incompetent  like 
Pope?  Why  was  a  slow-minded  closet-student 
like  Halleck  permitted  to  fritter  away  in  the 
long-drawn-out  operations  against  Corinth  the 
advantage  of  position  and  of  force  that  had  been 
secured  by  the  army  of  the  West?  Why  was  a 
political  trickster  like  Butler,  with  no  army 
experience,  or  a  well-meaning  politician  like  Banks 
with  still  less  capacity  for  the  management  of 
troops,  permitted  to  retain  responsibilities  in  the 
field,  making  blunders  that  involved  waste  of 
life  and  of  resources  and  the  loss  of  campaigns? 
Why  were  not  the  real  men  like  Sherman,  Grant, 
Thomas,  McPherson,  Sheridan,  and  others  brought 


104  Abraham  Lincoln 

more  promptly  into  the  important  positions? 
Why  was  the  army  of  the  South  permitted  during 
the  first  two  years  of  the  War  to  have  so  large  an 
advantage  in  skilled  and  enterprising  leadership? 
A  little  reflection  will  show  how  unjust  is  the 
criticism  implied  through  such  questions.  We 
know  of  the  incapacity  of  the  generals  who  failed 
and  of  the  effectiveness  of  those  who  succeeded, 
only  through  the  results  of  the  campaigns  them 
selves.  Lincoln  could  only  study  the  men  as  he 
came  to  know  about  them  and  he  experimented 
first  with  one  and  then  with  another,  doing  what 
seemed  to  be  practicable  to  secure  a  natural 
selection  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  Such 
watchful  supervision  and  painstaking  experi 
menting  was  carried  out  with  infinite  patience 
and  with  an  increasing  knowledge  both  of  the 
requirements  and  of  the  men  fitted  to  fill  the 
requirements. 

We  must  also  recall  that,  Commander-in-chief 
as  he  was,  Lincoln  was  not  free  to  exercise  without 
restriction  his  own  increasingly  valuable  judg 
ment  in  the  appointment  of  the  generals.  It  was 
necessary  to  give  consideration  to  the  opinion 
of  the  country,  that  is  to  say,  to  the  individual 
judgments  of  the  citizens  whose  loyal  co-operation 
was  absolutely  essential  for  the  support  of  the 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War       105 

nation's  cause.  These  opinions  of  the  citizens 
were  expressed  sometimes  through  the  appeals 
of  earnestly  loyal  governors  like  Andrew  of 
Massachusetts,  or  Curtin  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
sometimes  through  the  articles  of  a  strenuous 
editor  like  Greeley,  whose  influence  and  support 
it  was,  of  course,  all  important  to  retain.  Gree- 
ley's  absolute  ignorance  of  military  conditions 
did  not  prevent  him  from  emphasising  with  the 
President  and  the  public  his  very  decided  con 
clusions  in  regard  to  the  selection  of  men  and 
the  conduct  of  campaigns.  In  this  all-perplexing 
problem  of  the  shaping  of  campaigns,  Lincoln 
had  to  consider  the  responsibilities  of  representa 
tive  government.  The  task  would,  of  course, 
have  been  much  easier  if  he  had  had  power  as 
an  autocrat  to  act  on  his  own  decisions  simply. 
The  appointment  of  Butler  and  Banks  was 
thought  to  be  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  meeting 
the  views  of  the  loyal  citizens  of  so  important  a 
State  as  Massachusetts,  and  other  appointments, 
the  results  of  which  were  more  or  less  unfortunate, 
may  in  like  manner  be  traced  to  causes  or  influ 
ences  outside  of  a  military  or  army  policy. 

General  Frank  V.  Greene,  in  a  paper  on  Lincoln 
as  Commander-in-chief,  writes  in  regard  to  his 
capacity  as  a  leader  as  follows : 


io6  Abraham  Lincoln 

"As  time  goes  on,  Lincoln's  fame  looms  ever  larger 
and  larger.  Great  statesman,  astute  politician, 
clear  thinker,  classic  writer,  master  of  men,  kindly, 
lovable  man, — these  are  his  titles.  To  these  must 
be  added — military  leader.  Had  he  failed  in  that 
quality,  the  others  would  have  been  forgotten.  Had 
peace  been  made  on  any  terms  but  those  of  the 
surrender  of  the  insurgent  forces  and  the  restoration 
of  the  Union,  Lincoln's  career  would  have  been  a 
colossal  failure  and  the  Emancipation  Proclamation 
a  subject  of  ridicule.  The  prime  essential  was  mil 
itary  success.  Lincoln  gained  it.  Judged  in  the 
retrospect  of  nearly  half  a  century,  with  his  every 
written  word  now  in  print  and  with  all  the  facts  of 
the  period  brought  out  and  placed  in  proper  perspec 
tive  by  the  endless  studies,  discussions,  and  arguments 
of  the  intervening  years,  it  becomes  clear  that,  first 
and  last  and  at  all  times  during  his  Presidency,  in 
military  affairs  his  was  not  only  the  guiding  but  the 
controlling  hand. " 

It  is  interesting,  as  the  War  progressed,  to 
trace  the  development  of  Lincoln's  own  military 
judgment.  He  was  always  modest  in  regard  to 
matters  in  which  his  experience  was  limited, 
and  during  the  first  twelve  months  in  Washington, 
he  had  comparatively  little  to  say  in  regard  to 
the  planning  or  even  the  supervision  of  campaigns. 
His  letters,  however,  to  McClellan  and  his  later 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War       107 

correspondence  with  Burnside,  with  Hooker, 
and  with  other  commanders  give  evidence  of  a 
steadily  developing  intelligence  in  regard  to 
larger  military  movements.  History  has  shown 
that  Lincoln's  judgment  in  regard  to  the  essential 
purpose  of  a  campaign,  and  the  best  methods  for 
carrying  out  such  purpose,  was  in  a  large  number 
of  cases  decidedly  sounder  than  that  of  the 
general  in  the  field.  When  he  emphasised  with 
McClellan  that  the  true  objective  was  the  Con 
federate  army  in  the  field  and  not  the  city  of 
Richmond,  he  laid  down  a  principle  which  seems 
to  us  elementary  but  to  which  McClellan  had  been 
persistently  blinded.  Lincoln  writes  to  Hooker: 
"We  have  word  that  the  head  of  Lee's  army  is 
near  Martinsburg  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley  while 
you  report  that  you  have  a  substantial  force 
still  opposed  to  you  on  the  Rappahannock.  It 
appears,  therefore  that  the  line  must  be  forty 
miles  long.  The  animal  is  evidently  very  slim 
somewhere  and  it  ought  to  be  possible  for 
you  to  cut  it  at  some  point."  Hooker  had  the 
same  information  but  did  not  draw  the  same 
inference. 

Apart  from  Lincoln's  work  in  selecting,  and  in 
large  measure  in  directing,  the  generals,  he  had 
a  further  important  relation  with  the  army  as 


io8  Abraham  Lincoln 

a  whole.  We  are  familiar  with  the  term  "the 
man  behind  the  gun. "  It  is  a  truism  to  say  that 
the  gun  has  little  value  whether  for  offence  or  for 
defence  unless  the  man  behind  it  possesses  the 
right  kind  of  spirit  which  will  infuse  and  guide 
his  purpose  and  his  action  with  the  gun.  For  the 
long  years  of  the  War,  the  Commander-in-chief 
was  the  man  behind  all  the  guns  in  the  field. 
The  men  in  the  front  came  to  have  a  realising 
sense  of  the  infinite  patience,  the  persistent 
hopefulness,  the  steadiness  of  spirit,  the  devoted 
watchfulness  of  the  great  captain  in  Washington. 
It  was  through  the  spirit  of  Lincoln  that  the 
spirit  in  the  ranks  was  preserved  during  the  long 
months  of  discouragement  and  the  many  defeats 
and  retreats.  The  final  advance  of  Grant  which 
ended  at  Appomattox,  and  the  triumphant  march 
of  Sherman  which  culminated  in  the  surrender 
at  Goldsborough  of  the  last  of  the  armies  of 
the  Confederacy,  were  the  results  of  the  inspira 
tion,  given  alike  to  soldier  and  to  general,  from 
the  patient  and  devoted  soul  of  the  nation's 
leader. 

In  March,  1862,  Lincoln  received  the  news  of 
the  victory  won  at  Pea  Ridge,  in  Arkansas,  by 
Curtis  and  Sigel,  a  battle  which  had  lasted  three 
days.  The  first  day  was  a  defeat  and  our  troops 


Beginning  of  the  Civil  War       109 

were  forced  back;  the  fighting  of  the  second 
resulted  in  what  might  be  called  a  drawn  battle; 
but  on  the  third,  our  army  broke  its  way  through 
the  enclosing  lines,  bringing  the  heavier  loss  to 
the  Confederates,  and  regained  its  base.  This 
battle  was  in  a  sense  typical  of  much  of  the 
fighting  of  the  War.  It  was  one  of  a  long  series 
of  fights  which  continued  for  more  than  one  day. 
The  history  of  the  War  presents  many  instances 
of  battles  that  lasted  two  days,  three  days,  four 
days,  and  in  one  case  seven  days.  It  was  difficult 
to  convince  the  American  soldier,  on  either  side 
of  the  line,  that  he  was  beaten.  The  general 
might  lose  his  head,  but  the  soldiers,  in  the  larger 
number  of  cases,  went  on  fighting  until,  with  a 
new  leader  or  with  more  intelligent  dispositions 
on  the  part  of  the  original  leader,  a  first  disaster 
had  been  repaired.  There  is  no  example  in 
modern  history  of  fighting  of  such  stubborn 
character,  or  it  is  fairer  to  say,  there  was  no 
example  until  the  Russo-Japanese  War  in 
Manchuria.  The  record  shows  that  European 
armies,  when  outgeneralled  or  outmanoeuvred, 
had  the  habit  of  retiring  from  the  field,  sometimes 
in  good  order,  more  frequently  in  a  state  of 
demoralisation.  The  American  soldier  fought 
the  thing  out  because  he  thought  the  thing  out. 


no  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  patience  and  persistence  of  the  soldier  in 
the  field  was  characteristic  of,  and,  it  may  fairly 
be  claimed,  was  in  part  due  to,  the  patience  and 
persistence  of  the  great  leader  in  Washington. 


VI 

THE  DARK  DAYS  OF  1862 

THE  dark  days  of  1862  were  in  April  brightened 
by  the  all-important  news  that  Admiral  Farragut 
had  succeeded  in  bringing  the  Federal  fleet,  or 
at  least  the  leading  vessels  in  this  fleet,  past  the 
batteries  of  Forts  St.  Philip  and  Jackson  on  the 
Mississippi,  and  had  compelled  the  surrender  of 
New  Orleans.  The  opening  of  the  Mississippi 
River  had  naturally  been  included  among  the 
most  essential  things  to  be  accomplished  in  the 
campaign  for  the  restoration  of  the  national 
authority.  It  was  of  first  importance  that  the 
States  of  the  North-west  and  the  enormous 
contiguous  territory  which  depended  upon  the 
Mississippi  for  its  water  connection  with  the  outer 
world  should  not  be  cut  off  from  the  Gulf.  The 
prophecy  was  in  fact  made  more  than  once  that 
in  case  the  States  of  the  South  had  succeeded 
in  establishing  their  independence,  there  would 
have  come  into  existence  on  the  continent 

not  two  confederacies,  but  probably  four.     The 

in 


ii2  Abraham  Lincoln 

communities  on  the  Pacific  Coast  would  naturally 
have  been  tempted  to  set  up  for  themselves,  and 
a  similar  course  might  also  naturally  have  been 
followed  by  the  great  States  of  the  North-west 
whose  interests  were  so  closely  bound  up  with 
the  waterways  running  southward.  It  was  essen 
tial  that  no  effort  should  be  spared  to  bring  the 
loyal  States  of  the  West  into  control  of  the  line 
of  the  Mississippi.  More  than  twelve  months 
was  still  required  after  the  capture  of  New  Or 
leans  on  the  first  of  May,  1862,  before  the  surren 
der  of  Vicksburg  to  Grant  and  of  Port  Hudson 
to  Banks  removed  the  final  barriers  to  the  Federal 
control  of  the  great  river.  The  occupation  of 
the  river  by  the  Federals  was  of  importance 
in  more  ways  than  one.  The  States  to  the 
west  of  the  river  —  Arkansas,  Missouri,  and 
Texas — were  for  the  first  two  years  of  the  War 
important  sources  of  supplies  for  the  food  of  the 
Confederate  army.  Corn  on  the  cob  or  in  bags 
was  brought  across  the  river  by  boats,  while 
the  herds  of  live  cattle  were  made  to  swim  the 
stream,  and  were  then  most  frequently  marched 
across  country  to  the  commissary  depots  of  the 
several  armies.  After  the  fall  of  Port  Hudson, 
the  connection  for  such  supplies  was  practically 
stopped ;  although  I  may  recall  that  even  as  late 


The  Dark  Days  of  1862          113 

as  1864,  the  command  to  which  I  was  attached 
had  the  opportunity  of  stopping  the  swimming 
across  the  Mississippi  of  a  herd  of  cattle  that 
was  in  transit  for  the  army  of  General  Joe 
Johnston. 

In  April,  1862,  just  after  the  receipt  by  Lincoln 
of  the  disappointing  news  of  the  first  repulse  at 
Vicksburg,  he  finds  time  to  write  a  little  autograph 
note  to  a  boy,  "Master  Crocker,"  with  thanks 
for  a  present  of  a  white  rabbit  that  the  youngster 
had  sent  to  the  President  with  the  suggestion 
that  perhaps  the  President  had  a  boy  who  would 
be  pleased  with  it. 

During  the  early  part  of  1862,  Lincoln  is  giving 
renewed  thought  to  the  great  problem  of  eman 
cipation.  He  becomes  more  and  more  convinced 
that  the  success  of  the  War  calls  for  definite 
action  on  the  part  of  the  administration  in  the 
matter  of  slavery.  He  was,  as  before  pointed 
out,  anxious,  not  only  as  a  matter  of  justice 
to  loyal  citizens,  but  on  the  ground  of  the  im 
portance  of  retaining  for  the  national  cause  the 
support  of  the  Border  States,  to  act  in  such 
manner  that  the  loyal  citizens  of  these  States 
should  be  exposed  to  a  minimum  loss  and  to  the 
smallest  possible  risk  of  disaffection.  In  July, 
1862,  Lincoln  formulated  a  proposition  for  com- 


ii4  Abraham   Lincoln 

pensated  emancipation.  It  was  his  idea  that 
the  nation  should  make  payment  of  an  appraised 
value  in  freeing  the  slaves  that  were  in  the  owner 
ship  of  citizens  who  had  remained  loyal  to  the 
government.  It  was  his  belief  that  the  funds 
required  would  be  more  than  offset  by  the  result 
in  furthering  the  progress  of  the  War.  The 
daily  expenditure  of  the  government  was  at 
the  time  averaging  about  a  million  and  a  half 
dollars  a  day,  and  in  1864  it  reached  two  million 
dollars  a  day.  If  the  War  could  be  shortened 
a  few  months,  a  sufficient  amount  of  money  would 
be  saved  to  offset  a  very  substantial  payment  to 
loyal  citizens  for  "the  property  rights  in  their 
slaves. 

The  men  of  the  Border  States  were,  however, 
still  too  bound  to  the  institution  of  slavery  to 
be  prepared  to  give  their  assent  to  any  such 
plan.  Congress  was,  naturally,  not  ready  to 
give  support  to  such  a  policy  unless  it  could  be 
made  clear  that  it  was  satisfactory  to  the  people 
most  concerned.  The  result  of  the  unwise  stub 
bornness  in  this  matter  of  the  loyal  citizens  of 
Missouri,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Maryland 
was  that  they  were  finally  obliged  to  surrender 
without  compensation  the  property  control  in 
their  slaves.  When  the  plan  for  compensated 


The  Dark  Days  of  1862          05 

emancipation  had  failed,  Lincoln  decided  that 
the  time  had  come  for  unconditional  emancipa 
tion.  In  July,  1862,  he  prepares  the  first 
draft  of  the  Emancipation  Proclamation.  It 
was  his  judgment,  which  was  shared  by  the 
majority  of  his  Cabinet,  that  the  issue  of  the 
proclamation  should,  however,  be  deferred  until 
after  some  substantial  victory  by  the  armies 
of  the  North.  It  was  undesirable  to  give  to 
such  a  step  the  character  of  an  utterance  of 
despair  or  even  of  discouragement.  It  seemed 
evident,  however,  that  the  War  had  brought  the 
country  to  the  point  at  which  slavery,  the  essential 
cause  of  the  cleavage  between  the  States,  must 
be  removed.  The  bringing  to  an  end  of  the 
national  responsibility  for  slavery  would  con 
solidate  national  opinion  throughout  the  States 
of  the  North  and  would  also  strengthen  the 
hands  of  the  friends  of  the  Union  in  England 
where  the  charge  had  repeatedly  been  made  that 
the  North  was  fighting,  not  against  slavery  or 
for  freedom  of  any  kind,  but  for  domination. 
The  proclamation  was  held  until  after  the  battle 
of  Antietam  in  September,  1862,  and  was  then 
issued  to  take  effect  on  the  first  of  January, 
1863.  It  did  produce  the  hoped-for  results. 
The  cause  of  the  North  was  now  placed  on  a 


n6  Abraham   Lincoln 

consistent  foundation.  It  was  made  clear  that 
when  the  fight  for  nationality  had  reached  a 
successful  termination,  there  was  to  be  no  further 
national  responsibility  for  the  great  crime  against 
civilisation.  The  management  of  the  contra 
bands,  who  were  from  week  to  week  making  their 
way  into  the  lines  of  the  Northern  armies,  was 
simplified.  There  was  no  further  question  of 
holding  coloured  men  subject  to  the  possible 
claim  of  a  possibly  loyal  master.  The  work  of 
organising  coloured  troops,  which  had  begun  in 
Massachusetts  some  months  earlier  in  the  year, 
was  now  pressed  forward  with  some  measure  of 
efficiency.  Boston  sent  to  the  front  the  54th 
and  55th  Massachusetts  regiments  composed  of 
coloured  troops  and  led  by  such  men  as  Shaw 
and  Hallo  well.  The  first  South  Carolina  coloured 
regiment  was  raised  and  placed  under  the  com 
mand  of  Colonel  Higginson. 

I  had  myself  some  experience  in  Louisiana 
with  the  work  of  moulding  plantation  hands  into 
disciplined  soldiers  and  I  was  surprised  at  the 
promptness  of  the  transformation.  A  contra 
band  who  made  his  way  into  the  camp  from  the 
old  plantation  with  the  vague  idea  that  he  was 
going  to  secure  freedom  was  often  in  appearance 
but  an  unpromising  specimen  out  of  which  to 


The  Dark  Days  of  1862          117 

make  a  soldier.  He  did  not  know  how  to  hold 
himself  upright  or  to  look  the  other  man  in  the 
face.  His  gait  was  shambly,  his  perceptions 
dull.  It  was  difficult  for  him  either  to  hear 
clearly,  or  to  understand  when  heard,  the  word 
of  instruction  or  command.  When,  however, 
the  plantation  rags  had  been  disposed  of  and 
(possibly  after  a  souse  in  the  Mississippi)  the 
contraband  had  been  put  into  the  blue  uniform 
and  had  had  the  gun  placed  on  his  shoulder, 
he  developed  at  once  from  a  ''chattel"  to  a  man. 
He  was  still,  for  a  time  at  least,  clumsy  and  sham 
bly.  The  understanding  of  the  word  of  command 
did  not  come  at  once  and  his  individual  action, 
if  by  any  chance  he  should  be  left  to  act  alone, 
was,  as  a  rule,  less  intelligent,  less  to  be  depended 
upon,  than  that  of  the  white  man.  But  he  stood 
up  straight  in  the  garb  of  manhood,  looked  you 
fairly  in  the  face,  showed  by  his  expression  that 
he  was  anxious  for  the  privilege  of  fighting  for 
freedom  and  for  citizenship,  and  in  Louisiana, 
and  throughout  the  whole  territory  of  the  War, 
every  black  regiment  that  came  into  engagement 
showed  that  it  could  be  depended  upon.  Before 
the  War  was  closed,  some  two  hundred  thousand 
negroes  had  been  brought  into  the  ranks  of  the 
Federal  army  and  their  service  constituted  a  very 


zx8  Abraham  Lincoln 

valuable  factor  in  the  final  outcome  of  the  cam 
paigns.  A  battle  like  that  at  Milliken's  Bend, 
Mississippi,  inconsiderable  in  regard  to  the  num 
bers  engaged,  was  of  distinctive  importance  in 
showing  what  the  black  man  was  able  and  willing 
to  do  when  brought  under  fire  for  the  first  time. 
A  coloured  regiment  made  up  of  men  who  only  a 
few  weeks  before  had  been  plantation  hands, 
had  been  left  on  a  point  of  the  river  to  be  picked 
up  by  an  expected  transport.  The  regiment 
was  attacked  by  a  Confederate  force  of  double 
or  treble  the  number,  the  Southerners  believing 
that  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  driving  into 
the  river  this  group  of  recent  slaves.  On  the 
first  volley,  practically  all  of  the  officers  (who 
were  white)  were  struck  down  and  the  loss  with 
the  troops  was  also  very  heavy.  The  negroes, 
who  had  but  made  a  beginning  with  their  educa 
tion  as  soldiers,  appeared,  however,  not  to  have 
learned  anything  about  the  conditions  for  sur 
render  and  they  simply  fought  on  until  no  one 
was  left  standing.  The  percentage  of  loss  to  the 
numbers  engaged  was  the  heaviest  of  any  action 
in  the  War.  The  Southerners,  in  their  contempt 
fof  the  possibility  of  negroes  doing  any  real 
fighting,  had  in  their  rushing  attack  exposed 
themselves  much  and  had  themselves  suffered 


The  Dark  Days  of  1862          119 

seriously.  When,  in  April,  1865,  after  the  forcing 
back  of  Lee's  lines,  the  hour  came,  so  long  waited 
for  and  so  fiercely  fought  for,  to  take  possession 
of  Richmond,  there  was  a  certain  poetic  justice 
in  allowing  the  negro  division,  commanded  by 
General  Weitzel,  to  head  the  column  of  advance. 

Through  1862,  and  later,  we  find  much  corre 
spondence  from  Lincoln  in  regard  to  the  punish 
ment  of  deserters.  The  army  penalty  for  desertion 
when  the  lines  were  in  front  of  the  enemy,  was 
death.  Lincoln  found  it  very  difficult,  however, 
to  approve  of  a  sentence  of  death  for  any  soldier. 
Again  and  again  he  writes,  instructing  the 
general  in  the  field  to  withhold  the  execution 
until  he,  Lincoln,  had  had  an  opportunity  of 
passing  upon  the  case.  There  is  a  long  series 
of  instances  in  which,  sometimes  upon  application 
from  the  mother,  but  more  frequently  through 
the  personal  impression  gained  by  himself  of  the 
character  of  the  delinquent,  Lincoln  decided  to 
pardon  youngsters  who  had,  in  his  judgment, 
simply  failed  to  realise  their  full  responsibility 
as  soldiers.  Not  a  few  of  these  men,  permitted 
to  resume  their  arms,  gained  distinction  later 
for  loyal  service. 

In  December,  1862,  Jefferson  Davis  issued  an 
order  which  naturally  attracted  some  attention, 


120  Abraham   Lincoln 

directing  that  General  Benjamin  F.  Butler,  when 
captured,  should  be  "reserved  for  execution." 
Butler  never  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Confederates 
and  it  is  probable  that  if  he  had  been  taken  pris 
oner,  the  order  would  have  remained  an  empty 
threat.  From  Lincoln  came  the  necessary  rejoin 
der  that  a  Confederate  officer  of  equal  rank  would 
be  held  as  hostage  for  the  safety  of  any  Northern 
general  who,  as  prisoner,  might  not  be  protected 
under  the  rules  of  war. 

Lincoln's  correspondence  during  1862,  a  year 
which  was  in  many  ways  the  most  discouraging 
of  the  sad  years  of  the  war,  shows  how  much 
he  had  to  endure  in  the  matter  of  pressure  of 
unrequested  advice  and  of  undesired  counsel 
from  all  kinds  of  voluntary  advisers  and  active- 
minded  citizens,  all  of  whom  believed  that  their 
views  were  important,  if  not  essential,  for  the 
salvation  of  the  state.  In  September,  1862, 
Lincoln  writes  to  a  friend : 

"I  am  approached  with  the  most  opposite 
opinions  expressed  on  the  part  of  religious  men, 
each  of  whom  is  equally  certain  that  he  represents 
the  divine  will." 

To  one  of  these  delegations  of  ministers,  Lincoln 
gave  a  response  which  while  homely  in  its  language 
must  have  presented  to  his  callers  a  vivid  picture 


The  Dark  Days  of  1862          121 

of  the  burdens  that  were  being  carried  by  the 
leader  of  the  state . 

"Gentlemen,"  he  said,  "suppose  all  the  property 
you  possess  were  in  gold,  and  you  had  placed  it  in 
the  hands  of  Blondin  to  carry  across  the  Niagara 
River  on  a  rope.  With  slow,  cautious,  steady  steps 
he  walks  the  rope,  bearing  your  all.  Would  you 
shake  the  cable  and  keep  shouting  to  him,  '  Blondin, 
stand  up  a  little  straighter!  Blondin,  stoop  a  little 
more;  go  a  little  faster;  lean  more  to  the  south! 
Now  lean  a  little  more  to  north!  Would  that  be 
your  behaviour  in  such  an  emergency?  No,  you 
would  hold  your  breath,  every  one  of  you,  as  well  as 
your  tongues.  You  would  keep  your  hands  off  until 
he  was  safe  on  the  other  side. " 

Another  delegation,  which  had  been  urging 
some  months  in  advance  of  what  Lincoln  believed 
to  be  the  fitting  time  for  the  issuing  of  the  Pro 
clamation  of  Emancipation,  called  asking  that 
there  should  be  no  further  delay  in  the  action. 
One  of  the  ministers,  as  he  \vas  retiring,  turned 
and  said  to  Lincoln:  "What  you  have  said  to 
us,  Mr.  President,  compels  me  to  say  to  you  in 
reply  that  it  is  a  message  to  you  from  our  Divine 
Master,  through  me,  commanding  you,  sir,  to 
open  the  doors  of  bondage,  that  the  slave  may 
go  free!"  Lincoln  replied:  "That  may  be,  sir, 


122  Abraham   Lincoln 

for  I  have  studied  this  question  by  night  and  by 
day,  for  weeks  and  for  months,  but  if  it  is,  as  you 
say,  a  message  from  your  Divine  Master,  is  it  not 
odd  that  the  only  channel  He  could  send  it  by 
was  that  roundabout  route  through  the  wicked 
city  of  Chicago?" 

Another  version  of  the  story  omits  the  reference 
to  Chicago,  and  makes  Lincoln's  words : 

"I  hope  it  will  not  be  irreverent  for  me  to  say 
that  if  it  is  probable  that  God  would  reveal  His 
will  to  others  on  a  point  so  connected  with  my 
duty,  it  might  be  supposed  He  would  reveal  it 
directly  to  me.  .  .  .  Whatever  shall  appear 
to  be  God's  will,  I  will  do. " 

In  September,  1862,  General  Lee  carried  his 
army  into  Maryland,  threatening  Baltimore  and 
Washington.  It  is  probable  that  the  purpose  of 
this  invasion  was  more  political  than  military. 
The  Confederate  correspondence  shows  that  Davis 
was  at  the  time  hopeful  of  securing  the  interven 
tion  of  Great  Britain  and  France,  and  it  was 
natural  to  assume  that  the  prospects  of  such 
intervention  would  be  furthered  if  it  could  be 
shown  that  the  Southern  army,  instead  of  being 
engaged  in  the  defence  of  its  own  capital,  was 
actually  threatening  Washington  and  was  possibly 
strong  enough  to  advance  farther  north. 


The  Dark  Days  of  1862         123 

General  Pope  had,  as  a  result  of  his  defeat  at 
the  second  Bull  Run,  in  July,  1862,  lost  the 
confidence  of  the  President  and  of  the  country. 
The  defeat  alone  would  not  necessarily  have 
undermined  his  reputation,  which  had  been  that 
of  an  effective  soldier.  He  had,  however,  the 
fatal  quality,  too  common  with  active  Americans, 
of  talking  too  much,  whether  in  speech  or  in  the 
written  word,  of  promising  things  that  did  not 
come  off,  and  of  emphasising  his  high  opinion  of 
his  own  capacity.  Under  the  pressure  of  the 
new  peril  indicated  by  the  presence  of  Lee's 
troops  within  a  few  miles  of  the  capital,  Lincoln 
put  to  one  side  his  own  grave  doubts  in  regard 
to  the  effectiveness  and  trustworthiness  of 
McClellan  and  gave  McClellan  one  further  op 
portunity  to  prove  his  ability  as  a  soldier.  The 
personal  reflections  and  aspersions  against  his 
Commander-in-chief  of  which  McClellan  had 
been  guilty, weighed  with  Lincoln  not  at  all;  the 
President's  sole  thought  was  at  this  time,  as 
always,  how  with  the  material  available  could 
the  country  best  be  served. 

McClellan  had  his  chance  (and  to  few  men  is  it 
given  to  have  more  than  one  great  opportunity) 
and  again  he  threw  it  away.  His  army  was 
stronger  than  that  of  Lee  and  he  had  the  advan- 


124  Abraham   Lincoln 

tage  of  position  and  (for  the  first  time  against 
this  particular  antagonist)  of  nearness  to  his 
base  of  supplies.  Lee  had  been  compelled  to 
divide  his  army  in  order  to  get  it  promptly  into 
position  on  the  north  side  of  the  Potomac. 
McClellan's  tardiness  sacrificed  Harper's  Ferry 
(which,  on  September  isth,  was  actually  surround 
ed  by  Lee's  advance)  with  the  loss  of  twelve  thou 
sand  prisoners.  Through  an  exceptional  piece  of 
good  fortune,  there  came  into  McClellan's  hands  a 
despatch  showing  the  actual  position  of  the 
different  divisions  of  Lee's  army  and  giving 
evidence  that  the  two  wings  were  so  far  separated 
that  they  could  not  be  brought  together  within 
twenty-four  hours.  The  history  now  makes 
clear  that  for  twenty-four  hours  McClellan  had 
the  safety  of  Lee's  army  in  his  hands,  but  those 
precious  hours  were  spent  by  McClellan  in  "getting 
ready,"  that  is  to  say,  in  vacillating. 

Finally,  there  came  the  trifling  success  at  South 
Mountain  and  the  drawn  battle  of  Antietam. 
Lee's  army  was  permitted  to  recross  the  Potomac 
with  all  its  trains  and  even  with  the  captured 
prisoners,  and  McClellan  lay  waiting  through  the 
weeks  for  something  to  turn  up. 

A  letter  written  by  Lincoln  on  the  i3th  of 
October  shows  a  wonderfully  accurate  under- 


The  Dark  Days  of  1862          125 

standing  of  military  conditions,  and  throws  light 
also  upon  the  character  and  the  methods  of 
thought  of  the  two  men : 

"  Are  you  not  overcautious  when  you  assume  that 
you  cannot  do  what  the  enemy  is  constantly  doing? 
Should  you  not  claim  to  be  at  least  his  equal  in  prow 
ess,  and  act  upon  the  claim?  As  I  understand,  you 
telegraphed  General  Halleck  that  you  cannot  subsist 
your  army  at  Winchester  unless  the  railroad  from 
Harper's  Ferry  to  that  point  be  put  in  working  order. 
But  the  enemy  does  now  subsist  his  army  at  Winches 
ter,  at  a  distance  nearly  twice  as  great  as  you  would 
have  to  do,  without  the  railroad  last  named.  He 
now  waggons  from  Culpeper  Court  House,  which  is 
just  about  twice  as  far  as  you  would  have  to  do 
from  Harper's  Ferry.  He  is  certainly  not  more  than 
half  as  well  provided  with  waggons  as  you  are 
Again,  one  of  the  standard  maxims  of  war,  as  you 
know,  is  to  'operate  upon  the  enemy's  communica 
tions  without  exposing  your  own.'  You  seem  to 
act  as  if  this  applies  against  you,  but  cannot  apply 
it  in  your  favour.  Change  positions  with  the  enemy, 
and  think  you  not  he  would  break  your  communica 
tion  with  Richmond  in  twenty- four  hours?  .  .  . 
You  are  now  nearer  Richmond  than  the  enemy  is 
by  the  route  you  can  and  he  must  take.  Why  can 
you  not  reach  there  before  him,  unless  you  admit 
that  he  is  more  than  your  equal  on  a  march?  His 


Abraham    Lincoln 


route  is  the  arc  of  a  circle,  while  yours  is  the  chord. 
The  roads  are  as  good  on  your  side  as  on  his  ... 
If  he  should  move  northward,  I  would  follow  him 
closely,  holding  his  communications.  If  he  should 
prevent  our  seizing  his  communications  and  move 
towards  Richmond,  I  would  press  closely  to  him, 
fight  him,  if  a  favourable  opportunity  should  present, 
and  at  least  try  to  beat  him  to  Richmond  on  the 
inside  track.  I  say  'Try';  if  we  never  try,  we  shall 
never  succeed.  ...  If  we  cannot  beat  him  when 
he  bears  the  wastage  of  coming  to  us,  we  never  can 
when  we  bear  the  wastage  of  going  to  him.  .  .  . 
As  we  must  beat  him  somewhere  or  fail  finally,  we 
can  do  it,  if  at  all,  easier  near  to  us  than  far  away. 
.  .  .  It  is  all  easy  if  our  troops  march  as  well 
as  the  enemy,  and  it  is  unmanly  to  say  that  they 
cannot  do  it.  " 

The  patience  of  Lincoln  and  that  of  the  coun 
try  behind  Lincoln  were  at  last  exhausted. 
McClellan  was  ordered  to  report  to  his  home  in 
New  Jersey  and  the  General  who  had  come  to 
the  front  with  such  flourish  of  trumpets  and 
had  undertaken  to  dictate  a  national  policy  at 
a  time  when  he  was  not  able  to  keep  his  own 
army  in  position,  retires  from  the  history  of  the 
War. 

The  responsibility  again  comes  to  the  weary 
Commander-in-chief  of  finding  a  leader  who 


The  Dark  Days  of  1862          127 

could  lead,  in  whom  the  troops  and  the  country 
would  have  confidence,  and  who  could  be  trusted 
to  do  his  simple  duty  as  a  general  in  the  field 
without  confusing  his  military  responsibilities 
with  political  scheming.  The  choice  first  fell 
upon  Burnside.  Burnside  was  neither  ambitious 
nor  self-confident.  He  was  a  good  division 
general,  but  he  doubted  his  ability  for  the  general 
command.  Burnside  loyally  accepts  the  task, 
does  the  best  that  was  within  his  power  and, 
pitted  against  a  commander  who  was  very  much 
his  superior  in  general  capacity  as  well  as  in 
military  skill,  he  fails.  Once  more  has  the 
President  on  his  hands  the  serious  problem  of 
finding  the  right  man.  This  time  the  commission 
was  given  to  General  Joseph  Hooker.  With  the 
later  records  before  us,  it  is  easy  to  point  out 
that  this  selection  also  was  a  blunder.  There 
were  better  men  in  the  group  of  major-generals. 
Reynolds,  Meade,  or  Hancock  would  doubtless  have 
made  more  effective  use  of  the  power  of  the  army 
of  the  Potomac,  but  in  January,  1863,  the  relative 
characters  and  abilities  of  these  generals  were  not 
so  easily  to  be  determined.  Lincoln's  letter  to 
Hooker  was  noteworthy,  not  only  in  the  indica 
tion  that  it  gives  of  Hooker's  character  but  as 
an  example  of  the  President's  width  of  view  and 


128  Abraham    Lincoln 

of  his  method  of  coming  into  the  right  relation 
with  men.     He  writes : 

"You  have  confidence  in  yourself,  which  is  a 
valuable  if  not  an  indispensable  quality.  .  .  . 
I  think,  however,  that  during  General  Burnside's 
command  of  the  army,  you  have  taken  counsel  of 
your  ambition  and  have  thwarted  him  as  much  as 
you  could,  in  which  you  did  a  great  wrong  to  the 
country  and  to  a  most  meritorious  and  honourable 
brother  officer.  I  have  heard  of  your  recently  saying 
that  both  the  army  and  the  government  needed  a 
dictator.  Of  course  it  was  not  for  this  but  in  spite 
of  it  that  I  have  given  you  the  command.  Only 
those  generals  who  gain  success  can  set  up  as  dictators. 
What  I  now  ask  of  you  is  military  success  and  I  will 
risk  the  dictatorship.  The  government  will  support 
you  to  the  best  of  its  ability,  which  is  neither  more 
nor  less  than  it  has  done  and  will  do  for  all  its  com 
manders.  .  .  .  Beware  of  rashness,  but  with  en 
ergy  and  sleepless  vigilance  go  forward  and  give  us 
victories." 

Hooker,  like  Burnside,  undoubtedly  did  the  best 
that  he  could.  He  was  a  loyal  patriot  and  had 
shown  himself  a  good  division  commander.  It  is 
probable,  however,  that  the  limit  of  his  ability  as 
a  general  in  the  field  was  the  management  of  an 
army  corps;  he  seems  to  have  been  confused  in 


The  Dark  Days  of  1862          129 

the  attempt  to  direct  the  movements  of  the  larger 
body.  At  Chancellors ville,  he  was  clearly  out 
witted  by  his  opponents,  Lee  and  Jackson.  The 
men  of  the  army  of  the  Potomac  fought  steadily 
as  always  but  with  the  discouraging  feeling  that 
the  soldiers  on  the  other  side  of  the  line  had  the 
advantage  of  better  brain  power  behind  them. 
It  is  humiliating  to  read  in  the  life  of  Jackson 
the  reply  given  by  him  to  Lee  when  Lee  questioned 
the  safety  of  the  famous  march  planned  by 
Jackson  across  the  front  of  the  Federal  line. 
Said  Lee:  "There  are  several  points  along  the 
line  of  your  proposed  march  at  which  your  column 
could  be  taken  in  flank  with  disastrous  results." 
"But,  General  Lee,"  replies  Jackson,  "we  must 
surely  in  planning  any  military  movements  take 
into  account  the  personality  of  the  leaders  to 
whom  we  are  opposed.  " 


VII 

THE  THIRD  AND  CRUCIAL  YEAR  OF  THE  WAR 

CHANCELLORS VILLE  was  fought  and  lost,  and 
again,  under  political  pressure  from  Richmond 
rather  than  with  any  hope  of  advantage  on 
simple  military  lines,  Lee  leads  his  army  to  an 
invasion  of  the  North.  For  this  there  were  at 
the  time  several  apparent  advantages ;  the  army 
of  the  Potomac  had  been  twice  beaten  and, 
while  by  no  means  demoralised,  was  discouraged 
and  no  longer  had  faith  in  its  commander.  There 
was  much  inevitable  disappointment  throughout 
the  North  that,  so  far  from  making  progress  in 
the  attempt  to  restore  the  authority  of  the 
government,  the  national  troops  were  on  the 
defensive  but  a  few  miles  from  the  national 
capital.  The  Confederate  correspondence  from 
London  and  from  Paris  gave  fresh  hopes  for  the 
long  expected  intervention. 

Lee's  army  was  cleverly  withdrawn  from 
Hooker's  front  and  was  carried  through  western 
Maryland  into  Pennsylvania  by  the  old  line  of 

130 


Third  and  Crucial  Year  of  War     131 

the  Shenandoah  Valley  and  across  the  Potomac 
at  Falling  Waters.  Hooker  reports  to  Lincoln 
under  date  of  June  4th  that  the  army  or  an  army 
is  still  in  his  front  on  the  line  of  the  Rappahan- 
nock.  Lincoln  writes  to  Hooker  under  date  of 
June  5th,  "We  have  report  that  Lee's  army 
is  moving  westward  and  that  a  large  portion  of 
it  is  already  to  the  west  of  the  Blue  Ridge.  The 
'bull'  [Lee's  army]  is  across  the  fence  and  it 
surely  ought  to  be  possible  to  w^orry  him."  On 
June  1 4th,  Lincoln  writes  again,  reporting  to 
Hooker  that  Lee  with  the  body  of  his  troops 
is  approaching  the  Potomac  at  a  point  forty 
miles  away  from  the  line  of  the  entrenchments 
on  the  Rappahannock.  "The  animal  [Lee's 
army]  is  extended  over  a  line  of  forty  miles.  It 
must  be  very  slim  somewhere.  Can  you  not 
cut  it?"  The  phrases  are  not  in  military  form 
but  they  give  evidence  of  sound  military  judg 
ment.  Hooker  wras  unable  to  grasp  the  oppor 
tunity,  and  realising  this  himself,  he  asked  to  be 
relieved.  The  troublesome  and  anxious  honour 
of  the  command  of  the  army  now  falls  upon 
General  Meade.  He  takes  over  the  responsibility 
at  a  time  when  Lee's  army  is  already  safely 
across  the  Potomac  and  advancing  northward, 
apparently  towards  Philadelphia.  His  troops 


132  Abraham  Lincoln 

are  more  or  less  scattered  and  no  definite  plan 
of  campaign  appears  to  have  been  formulated. 
The  events  of  the  next  three  weeks  constitute 
possibly  the  best  known  portion  of  the  War. 
Meade  shows  good  energy  in  breaking  up  his 
encampment  along  the  Rappahannock  and  getting 
his  column  on  to  the  road  northward.  For 
tunately,  the  army  of  the  Potomac  for  once  has 
the  advantage  of  the  interior  line  so  that  Meade 
is  able  to  place  his  army  in  a  position  that  pro 
tects  at  once  Washington  on  the  south-west, 
Baltimore  on  the  east,  and  Philadelphia  on  the 
north-east.  We  can,  however,  picture  to  our 
selves  the  anxiety  that  must  have  rested  upon 
the  Commander-in-chief  in  Washington  during  the 
weeks  of  the  campaign  and  during  the  three  days 
of  the  great  battle  which  was  fought  on  Northern 
soil  and  miles  to  the  north  of  the  Northern  capital. 
If,  on  that  critical  third  day  of  July,  the  Federal 
lines  had  been  broken  and  the  army  disorganised, 
there  was  nothing  that  could  prevent  the  national 
capital  from  coming  into  the  control  of  Lee's 
army.  The  surrender  of  Washington  meant  the 
intervention  of  France  and  England,  meant  the 
failure  of  the  attempt  to  preserve  the  nation's 
existence,  meant  that  Abraham  Lincoln  would 
go  down  to  history  as  the  last  President  of  the 


Third  and  Crucial  Year  of  War   133 

United  States,  the  President  under  whose  leader 
ship  the  national  history  had  come  to  a  close. 
But  the  Federal  lines  were  not  broken.  The 
third  day  of  Gettysburg  made  clear  that  with 
equality  of  position  and  with  substantial  equality 
in  numbers  there  was  no  better  fighting  material 
in  the  army  of  the  grey  than  in  the  army  of  the 
blue.  The  advance  of  Pickett's  division  to  the 
crest  of  Cemetery  Ridge  marked  the  high  tide 
of  the  Confederate  cause.  Longstreet's  men  were 
not  able  to  prevail  against  the  sturdy  defence 
of  Hancock's  second  corps  and  when,  on  the  Fourth 
of  July,  Lee's  army  took  up  its  line  of  retreat  to 
the  Potomac,  leaving  behind  it  thousands  of  dead 
and  wounded,  the  calm  judgment  of  Lee  and  his 
associates  must  have  made  clear  to  them  that 
the  cause  of  the  Confederacy  was  lost.  The  army 
of  Northern  Virginia  had  shattered  itself  against 
the  defences  of  the  North,  and  there  was  for  Lee 
no  reserve  line.  For  a  long  series  of  months  to 
come,  Lee,  magnificent  engineer  officer  that  he 
was,  and  with  a  sturdy  persistency  which  with 
stood  all  disaster,  was  able  to  maintain  defensive 
lines  in  the  Wilderness,  at  Cold  Harbor,  and  in 
front  of  Petersburg,  but  as  his  brigades  crumbled 
away  under  the  persistent  and  unceasing  attacks 
of  the  army  of  the  Potomac,  he  must  have  realised 


134  Abraham  Lincoln 

long  before  the  day  of  Appomattox  that  his  task 
was  impossible.  What  Gettysburg  decided  in 
the  East  was  confirmed  with  equal  emphasis 
by  the  fall  of  Vicksburg  in  the  West.  On  the 
Fourth  of  July,  1863,  the  day  on  which  Lee, 
defeated  and  discouraged,  was  taking  his  shat 
tered  army  out  of  Pennsylvania,  General  Grant 
was  placing  the  Stars  and  Stripes  over  the  earth 
works  of  Vicksburg.  The  Mississippi  was  now 
under  the  control  of  the  Federalists  from  its 
source  to  the  mouth,  and  that  portion  of  the 
Confederacy  lying  to  the  west  of  the  river  was 
cut  off  so  that  from  this  territory  no  further  co 
operation  of  importance  could  be  rendered  to  the 
armies  either  of  Johnston  or  of  Lee. 

Lincoln  writes  to  Grant  after  the  fall  of  Vicks 
burg  giving,  with  his  word  of  congratulation, 
the  admission  that  he  (Lincoln)  had  doubted 
the  wisdom  or  the  practicability  of  Grant's 
movement  to  the  south  of  Vicksburg  and  inland 
to  Jackson.  "You  were  right,"  said  Lincoln, 
"and  I  was  wrong. " 

On  the  igth  of  November,  1863,  comes  the 
Gettysburg  address,  so  eloquent  in  its  simplicity. 
It  is  probable  that  no  speaker  in  recorded  history 
ever  succeeded  in  putting  into  so  few  words  so 
much  feeling,  such  suggestive  thought,  and  such 


FAC-SIMILE  OF  GETTYSBURG  ADDRESS. 


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Third  and  Crucial  Year  of  War    135 

high  idealism.  The  speech  is  one  that  children 
can  understand  and  that  the  greatest  minds 
must  admire. 

There  was  disappointment  that  Meade  had 
not  shown  more  energy  after  Gettysburg  in  the 
pursuit  of  Lee's  army  and  that  some  attempt, 
at  least,  had  not  been  made  to  interfere  with 
the  retreat  across  the  Potomac.  Military  critics 
have  in  fact  pointed  out  that  Meade  had  laid 
himself  open  to  criticism  in  the  management 
of  the  battle  itself.  At  the  time  of  the  repulse 
of  Pickett's  charge,  Meade  had  available  at  the 
left  and  in  rear  of  his  centre  the  sixth  corps  which 
had  hardly  been  engaged  on  the  previous  two 
days,  and  which  included  some  of  the  best  fighting 
material  in  the  army.  It  has  been  pointed  out 
more  than  once  that  if  that  corps  had  been  thrown 
in  at  once  with  a  countercharge  upon  the  heels 
of  the  retreating  divisions  of  Longstreet,  Lee's 
right  must  have  been  curled  up  and  overwhelmed. 
If  this  had  happened,  Lee's  army  would  have  been 
so  seriously  shattered  that  its  power  for  future 
service  would  have  been  inconsiderable.  Meade 
was  accepted  as  a  good  working  general  but  the 
occasion  demanded  something  more  forcible  in  the 
way  of  leadership  and,  early  in  1864,  Lincoln  sends 
for  the  man  who  by  his  success  in  the  West  had 


136  Abraham  Lincoln 

won  the  hopeful  confidence  of  the  President  and 
the  people. 

Before  this  appointment  of  General-in-chief 
was  given  to  General  Grant,  and  he  came  to  the 
East  to  take  charge  of  the  armies  in  Virginia, 
he  had  brought  to  a  successful  conclusion  a 
dramatic  campaign,  of  which  Chattanooga  was 
the  centre.  In  September,  1863,  General  Rose- 
crans,  who  had  occupied  Chattanooga,  was  de 
feated  some  twenty  miles  to  the  south  on  the 
field  of  Chickamauga,  a  defeat  which  was  the  re 
sult  of  too  much  confidence  on  the  part  of  the 
Federal  commander,  who  in  pressing  his  advance 
had  unwisely  separated  the  great  divisions  of  his 
army,  and  of  excellent  skill  and  enterprise  on 
the  part  of  the  Confederate  commander,  General 
Bragg.  If  the  troops  of  Rosecrans  had  not  been 
veterans,  and  if  the  right  wing  had  not  been  under 
the  immediate  command  of  so  sturdy  and  uncon- 
quered  a  veteran  as  General  Thomas,  the  defeat 
might  have  become  a  rout.  As  it  was,  the  army 
retreated  with  some  discouragement  but  in  good 
fighting  force,  to  the  lines  of  Chattanooga.  By 
skilful  disposition  of  his  forces  across  the  lines 
of  connection  between  Chattanooga  and  the 
base  of  supplies,  General  Bragg  brought  the 
Federals  almost  to  the  point  of  starvation,  and 


Third  and  Crucial  Year  of  War   137 

there  was  grave  risk  that  through  the  necessary 
falling  back  of  the  army  to  secure  supplies,  the 
whole  advantage  of  the  previous  year's  campaign 
might  be  lost.  Grant  was  placed  in  charge  of  the 
forces  in  Chattanooga,  and  by  a  good  management 
of  the  resources  available,  he  succeeded  in  reopen 
ing  the  river  and  what  became  known  as  "the 
cracker  line,"  and  in  November,  1863,  in  the 
dramatic  battles  of  Lookout  Mountain,  fought 
more  immediately  by  General  Hooker,  and  of 
Missionary  Ridge,  the  troops  of  which  wrere 
under  the  direct  command  of  General  Sherman, 
overwhelmed  the  lines  of  Bragg,  and  pressed  his 
forces  back  into  a  more  or  less  disorderly  retreat. 
An  important  factor  in  the  defeat  of  Bragg  was 
the  detaching  from  his  army  of  the  corps  under 
Longstreet  which  had  been  sent  to  Knoxville 
in  a  futile  attempt  to  crush  Burnside  and  to 
reconquer  East  Tennessee  for  the  Confederacy. 
This  plan,  chiefly  political  in  purpose,  was  said 
to  have  originated  with  President  Davis.  The 
armies  of  the  West  were  now  placed  under  the 
command  of  General  Sherman,  and  early  in  1864, 
Grant  was  brought  to  Virginia  to  take  up  the 
perplexing  problem  of  overcoming  the  sturdy 
veterans  of  General  Lee. 

The  first  action  of  Grant  as  commander  of  all 


Abraham  Lincoln 


the  armies  in  the  field  was  to  concentrate  all  the 
available  forces  against  the  two  chief  armies  of 
the  Confederacy.  The  old  policy  of  occupying 
outlying  territory  for  the  sake  of  making  a  show 
of  political  authority  was  given  up.  If  Johnston 
in  the  West  and  Lee  in  the  East  could  be  crushed, 
the  national  authority  would  be  restored  in  due 
season,  and  that  was  the  only  way  in  which  it 
could  be  restored.  Troops  were  gathered  in 
from  Missouri  and  Arkansas  and  Louisiana  and 
were  placed  under  the  command  of  Sherman  for 
use  in  the  final  effort  of  breaking  through  the 
centre  of  the  Confederacy,  while  in  the  East 
nothing  was  neglected  on  the  part  of  the  new 
administration  to  secure  for  the  direction  of  the 
new  commander  all  resources  available  of  men 
and  of  supplies. 

Grant  now  finds  himself  pitted  against  the 
first  soldier  of  the  continent,  the  leader  who  is  to 
go  down  to  history  as  probably  the  greatest 
soldier  that  America  has  ever  produced.  Lee's 
military  career  is  a  wonderful  example  of  a 
combination  of  brilliancy,  daring  ingenuity  of 
plan,  promptness  of  action,  and  patient  persist 
ence  under  all  kinds  of  discouragement,  but  it 
was  not  only  through  these  qualities  that  it  was 
possible  for  him  to  retain  control,  through  three 


Third  and  Crucial  Year  of  War    139 

years  of  heavy  fighting,  of  the  territory  of  Virginia, 
which  came  to  be  the  chief  bulwark  of  the  Con 
federacy.  Lee's  high  character,  sweetness  of 
nature,  and  unselfish  integrity  of  purpose  had 
impressed  themselves  not  only  upon  the  Con 
federate  administration  which  had  given  him 
the  command  but  upon  every  soldier  in  that 
command.  For  the  army  of  Northern  Virginia 
Lee  was  the  man  behind  the  guns  just  as  Lincoln 
came  to  be  for  all  the  men  in  blue.  There  never 
was  a  more  devoted  army  and  there  probably 
never  was  a  better  handled  army  than  that  with 
which  Lee  defended  for  three  years  the  lines  across 
Northern  Virginia  and  the  remnants  of  which 
were  finally  surrendered  at  Appomattox. 

Grant  might  well  have  felt  concerned  with  such 
an  opponent  in  front  of  him.  He  had  on  his 
hands  (as  had  been  the  almost  uniform  condition 
for  the  army  of  the  Potomac)  the  disadvantage 
of  position.  His  advance  must  be  made  from 
exterior  lines  and  nearly  every  attack  was  to  be 
against  well  entrenched  positions  that  had  been 
first  selected  years  back  and  had  been  strength 
ened  from  season  to  season.  On  the  other  hand, 
Grant  was  able  to  depend  upon  the  loyal  support 
of  the  administration  through  which  came  to 
his  army  the  full  advantage  of  the  great  resources 


140  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  the  North.  His  ranks  as  depleted  were  filled 
up,  his  commissary  trains  need  never  be  long 
unsupplied,  his  ammunition  waggons  were  always 
equipped.  For  Lee,  during  the  years  following 
the  Gettysburg  battle,  the  problem  was  unending 
and  increasing:  How  should  the  troops  be  fed 
and  whence  should  they  secure  the  fresh  supplies 
of  ammunition? 

Between  Grant  and  Lincoln  there  came  to  be 
perfect  sympathy  of  thought  and  action.  The 
men  had  in  their  nature  (though  not  in  their 
mental  equipment)  much  in  common.  Grant 
carries  his  army  through  the  spring  of  1864, 
across  the  much  fought  over  territory,  marching 
and  fighting  from  day  to  day  towards  the  south 
west.  The  effort  is  always  to  outflank  Lee's 
right,  getting  in  between  him  and  his  base  at 
Richmond,  but  after  each  fight,  Lee's  army  al 
ways  bars  the  way.  Marching  out  of  the  Wilder 
ness  after  seven  days'  fierce  struggle,  Grant 
still  finds  the  line  of  grey  blocking  his  path  to 
Richmond.  The  army  of  the  Potomac  had  been 
marching  and  fighting  without  break  for  weeks. 
There  had  been  but  little  sleep,  and  the  food  in 
the  trains  was  often  far  out  of  the  reach  of  the 
men  in  the  fighting  line.  Men  and  officers  were 
alike  exhausted.  While  advantages  had  been 


Third  and  Crucial  Year  of  War   141 

gained  at  one  point  or  another  along  the  line, 
and  while  it  was  certain  that  the  opposing  army 
had  also  suffered  severely,  there  had  been  no 
conclusive  successes  to  inspirit  the  troops  with 
the  feeling  that  they  were  to  seize  victory  out 
of  the  campaign. 

In  emerging  from  the  Wilderness,  the  head  of 
the  column  reached  the  cross-roads  the  left  fork 
of  which  led  back  to  the  Potomac  and  the  right 
fork  to  Richmond  or  to  Petersburg.  In  the 
previous  campaigns,  the  army  of  the  Potomac, 
after  doing  its  share  of  plucky  fighting  and 
taking  more  than  its  share  of  discouragement, 
had  at  such  a  point  been  withdrawn  for  rest  and 
recuperation.  It  was  not  an  unnatural  expectation 
that  this  course  would  be  taken  in  the  present 
campaign.  The  road  to  the  right  meant  further 
fatigue  and  further  continuous  fighting  for  men 
who  were  already  exhausted.  In  the  leading 
brigade  it  was  only  the  brigade  commander  and 
the  adjutant  who  had  knowledge  of  the  instruc 
tions  for  the  line  of  march.  When,  with  a  wave 
of  the  hand  of  the  adjutant,  the  guidon  flag  of 
the  brigade  was  carried  to  the  right  and  the 
head  of  the  column  was  set  towards  Richmond, 
a  shout  went  up  from  the  men  marching  behind 
the  guidon.  It  was  an  utterance  not  of  dis- 


142  Abraham  Lincoln 

couragement  but  of  enthusiasm.  Exhausting  as 
the  campaign  had  been,  the  men  in  the  ranks 
preferred  to  fight  it  out  then  and  to  get  through 
with  it.  Old  soldiers  as  they  were,  they  were 
able  to  understand  the  actual  issue  of  the  contest. 
Their  plucky  opponents  were  as  exhausted  as 
themselves  and  possibly  even  more  exhausted. 
It  was  only  through  the  hammering  of  Lee's 
diminishing  army  out  of  existence  that  the  War 
could  be  brought  to  a  close.  The  enthusiastic 
shout  of  satisfaction  rolled  through  the  long 
column  reaching  twenty  miles  back,  as  the 
news  passed  from  brigade  to  brigade  that  the 
army  was  not  to  be  withdrawn  but  was,  as  Grant's 
report  to  Lincoln  was  worded,  ''to  fight  it  out 
on  this  line  if  it  took  all  summer."  When  this 
report  reached  Lincoln,  he  felt  that  the  selection 
of  Grant  as  Lieutenant-General  had  been  justified. 
He  said:  "We  need  this  man.  He  fights. " 

In  July,  1864,  Washington  is  once  more  within 
reach  if  not  of  the  invader  at  least  of  the  raider. 
The  Federal  forces  had  been  concentrated  in 
Grant's  lines  along  the  James,  and  General  Jubal 
Early,  one  of  the  most  energetic  fighters  of  the 
Southern  army,  tempted  by  the  apparently 
unprotected  condition  of  the  capital,  dashed 
across  the  Potomac  on  a  raid  that  became  famous. 


Third  and  Crucial  Year  of  War   143 

It  is  probable  that  in  this  undertaking,  as  in 
some  of  the  other  movements  that  have  been 
referred  to  on  the  part  of  the  Southern  leaders, 
the  purpose  was  as  much  political  as  military. 
Early's  force  of  from  fifteen  to  sixteen  thousand 
men  was,  of  course,  in  no  way  strong  enough  to  be 
an  army  of  invasion.  The  best  success  for  which 
he  could  hope  would  be,  in  breaking  through  the 
defences  of  Washington, to  hold  the  capital  for  a  day 
or  even  a  few  hours.  The  capture  of  Washington 
in  1864,  as  in  1863  or  in  1862,  would  in  all  proba 
bility  have  brought  about  the  long-hoped-for  in 
tervention  of  France  and  England.  General  Lew 
Wallace,  whose  name  became  known  in  the  years 
after  the  War  through  some  noteworthy  romances, 
Ben  Hur  and  The  Fair  God,  and  who  was  in  com 
mand  of  a  division  of  troops  stationed  west  of 
Washington,  and  composed  in  part  of  loyal 
Marylanders  and  in  part  of  convalescents  who 
were  about  to  be  returned  to  the  front,  fell  back 
before  Early's  advance  to  Monocacy  Creek.  He 
disposed  his  thin  line  cleverly  in  the  thickets 
on  the  east  side  of  the  creek  in  such  fashion  as 
to  give  the  impression  of  a  force  of  some  size 
with  an  advance  line  of  skirmishers.  Early's 
advance  was  checked  for  some  hours  before  he 
realised  that  there  was  nothing  of  importance 


144  Abraham  Lincoln 

in  front  of  him;  when  Wallace's  division  was 
promptly  overwhelmed  and  scattered.  The  few 
hours  that  had  thus  been  saved  were,  however, 
of  first  importance  for  the  safety  of  Washington. 
Early  reached  the  outer  lines  of  the  fortifications 
of  the  capital  some  time  after  sunset.  His  im 
mediate  problem  was  to  discover  whether  the 
troops  which  were,  as  he  knew,  being  hurried 
up  from  the  army  of  the  James,  had  reached 
Washington  or  whether  the  capital  was  still 
under  the  protection  only  of  its  so-called  home- 
guard  of  veteran  reserves.  These  reserves  were 
made  up  of  men  more  or  less  crippled  and  unfit 
for  work  in  the  field  but  who  were  still  able  to 
do  service  on  fortifications.  They  comprised  in 
all  about  six  thousand  men  and  were  under  the 
command  of  Colonel  Wisewell.  The  force  was 
strengthened  somewhat  that  night  by  the  addition 
of  all  of  the  male  nurses  from  the  hospitals 
(themselves  convalescents)  who  were  able  to 
bear  arms.  That  night  the  women  nurses,  who 
had  already  been  in  attendance  during  the  hours 
of  the  day,  had  to  render  double  service.  Lincoln 
had  himself  in  the  afternoon  stood  on  the  works 
watching  the  dust  of  the  Confederate  advance. 
Once  more  there  came  to  the  President  who  had 
in  his  hands  the  responsibility  for  the  direction 


Third  and  Crucial  Year  of  War   145 

of  the  War  the  bitterness  of  the  feeling,  if  not  of 
possible  failure,  at  least  of  immediate  mortification. 
He  knew  that  within  twenty-four  or  thirty-six 
hours  Washington  could  depend  upon  receiving 
the  troops  that  were  being  hurried  up  from  Grant's 
army,  but  he  also  realised  what  enormous  mis 
chief  might  be  brought  about  by  even  a  mo 
mentary  occupation  of  the  national  capital  by 
Confederate  troops.  I  had  some  personal  interest 
in  this  side  campaign.  The  igth  army  corps, 
to  which  my  own  regiment  belonged,  had  been 
brought  from  Louisiana  to  Virginia  and  had  been 
landed  on  the  James  River  to  strengthen  the 
ranks  of  General  Butler.  There  had  not  been 
time  to  assign  to  us  posts  in  the  trenches  and 
we  had,  in  fact,  not  even  been  placed  in  position. 
We  were  more  nearly  in  marching  order  than  any 
other  troops  available  and  it  was  therefore  the 
divisions  of  the  i  gth  army  corps  that  were  selected 
to  be  hurried  up  to  Washington.  To  these  were 
added  two  divisions  of  the  6th  corps. 

Colonel  Wisewell,  commanding  the  defences 
of  the  city,  realised  the  nature  of  his  problem. 
He  had  got  to  hold  the  lines  of  Washington, 
cost  what  it  might,  until  the  arrival  of  the  troops 
from  Grant.  He  took  the  bold  step  of  placing 
on  the  picket  line  that  night  every  man  within 


146  Abraham  Lincoln 

reach,  or  at  least  every  loyal  man  within  reach 
(for  plenty  of  the  men  in  Washington  were 
looking  and  hoping  for  the  success  of  the  South) . 
The  instructions  usually  given  to  pickets  were 
in  this  instance  reversed.  The  men  were  ordered, 
in  place  of  keeping  their  positions  hidden  and 
of  maintaining  absolute  quiet,  to  move  from  post 
to  post  along  the  whole  line,  and  they  were  also 
ordered,  without  any  reference  to  the  saving 
of  ammunition,  to  shoot  off  their  carbines  on  the 
least  possible  pretext  and  without  pretext.  The 
armories  were  then  beginning  to  send  to  the  front 
Sharp's  repeating  carbines.  The  invention  of 
breech-loading  rifles  came  too  late  to  be  of  service 
to  the  infantry  on  either  side,  but  during  the 
last  year  of  the  War,  certain  brigades  of  cavalry 
were  armed  with  Sharp's  breech-loaders.  The 
infantry  weapon  used  through  the  War  by  the 
armies  of  the  North  as  by  those  of  the  South 
was  the  muzzle-loading  rifle  which  bore  the  name 
on  our  side  of  the  Springfield  and  on  the  Con 
federate  side  of  the  Enfield.  The  larger  portion 
of  the  Northern  rifles  were  manufactured  in 
Springfield,  Massachusetts,  while  the  Southern 
rifles,  in  great  part  imported  from  England,  took 
their  name  from  the  English  factory.  It  was  of 
convenience  for  both  sides  that  the  two  rifles 


Third  and  Crucial  Year  of  War   147 

were  practically  identical  so  that  captured  pieces 
and  captured  ammunition  could  be  interchanged 
without  difficulty. 

Early's  skirmish  line  was  instructed  early  in 
the  night  to  "feel"  the  Federal  pickets,  an  in 
struction  which  resulted  in  a  perfect  blaze  of 
carbine  fire  from  Wisewell's  men.  The  report 
that  went  to  Early  was  that  the  picket  line  must 
be  about  six  thousand  strong.  The  conclusion  on 
the  part  of  the  old  Confederate  commander  was 
that  the  troops  from  the  army  of  the  Potomac  must 
have  reached  the  city.  If  that  were  true,  there 
was,  of  course,  no  chance  that  on  the  following 
day  he  could  break  through  the  entrenchments, 
while  there  was  considerable  risk  that  his  retreat 
to  the  Shenandoah  might  be  cut  off.  Early 
the  next  morning,  therefore,  the  disappointed 
Early  led  his  men  back  to  Falling  Waters. 

I  happened  during  the  following  winter,  when 
in  prison  in  Danville,  to  meet  a  Confederate 
lieutenant  who  had  been  on  Early's  staff  and 
who  had  lost  an  arm  in  this  little  campaign. 
He  reported  that  when  Early,  on  recrossing  the 
Potomac,  learned  that  he  had  had  Washington 
in  his  grasp  and  that  the  divisions  marching  to 
its  relief  did  not  arrive  and  could  not  have  arrived 
for  another  twenty-four  hours,  he  was  about  the 


148  Abraham  Lincoln 

maddest  Early  that  the  lieutenant  had  ever 
seen.  "And,"  added  the  lieutenant,  "when 
Early  was  angry,  the  atmosphere  became 
blue." 


VIII 

THE  FINAL  CAMPAIGN 

AFTER  this  close  escape,  it  was  clear  to  Grant 
as  it  had  been  clear  to  Lincoln  that  whatever 
forces  were  concentrated  before  Petersburg,  the 
line  of  advance  for  Confederate  invaders  through 
the  Shenandoah  must  be  blocked.  General  Sheri 
dan  was  placed  in  charge  of  the  army  of  the  Shenan 
doah  and  the  igth  corps,  instead  of  returning 
to  the  trenches  of  the  James,  marched  on  from 
Washington  to  Martinsburg  and  Winchester. 

In  September,  the  commander  in  Washington 
had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing  that  his  old  as 
sailant  Early  had  been  sent  "whirling  through 
Winchester"  by  the  fierce  advance  of  Sheridan. 
Lincoln  recognised  the  possibility  that  Early 
might  refuse  to  stay  defeated  and  might  make 
use,  as  had  so  often  before  been  done  by  Confed 
erate  commanders  in  the  Valley,  of  the  short 
interior  line  to  secure  reinforcements  from  Rich 
mond  and  to  make  a  fresh  attack.  On  the 
2gth  of  September,  twenty  days  before  this 


150  Abraham   Lincoln 

attack  came  off,  Lincoln  writes  to  Grant:  "Lee 
may  be  planning  to  reinforce  Early.  Care  should 
be  taken  to  trace  any  movement  of  troops  west 
ward.  "  On  the  i  Qth  of  October,  the  persistent 
old  fighter  Early,  not  willing  to  acknowledge 
himself  beaten  and  understanding  that  he  had 
to  do  with  an  army  that  for  the  moment  did  not 
have  the  advantage  of  Sheridan's  leadership, 
made  his  plucky,  and  for  the  time  successful, 
fight  at  Cedar  Creek.  The  arrival  of  Sheridan 
at  the  critical  hour  in  the  afternoon  of  the  igth 
of  October  did  not,  as  has  sometimes  been  stated, 
check  the  retreat  of  a  demoralised  army.  Sheri 
dan  found  his  army  driven  back,  to  be  sure,  from 
its  first  position,  but  in  occupation  of  a  well 
supported  line  across  the  pike  from  which  had 
just  been  thrown  back  the  last  attack  made  by 
Early's  advance.  It  was  Sheridan  however  who 
decided  not  only  that  the  battle  which  had  been 
lost  could  be  regained,  but  that  the  work  could 
be  done  to  best  advantage  right  away  on  that 
day,  and  it  was  Sheridan  who  led  his  troops  through 
the  too  short  hours  of  the  October  afternoon 
back  to  their  original  position  from  which  before 
dark  they  were  able  to  push  Early's  fatigued 
fighters  across  Cedar  Creek  southward.  Lincoln 
had  found  another  man  who  could  fight.  He 


The  Final   Campaign  151 

was  beginning  to  be  able  to  put  trust  in  leaders 
who,  instead  of  having  to  be  replaced,  were  with 
each  campaign  gathering  fresh  experience  and 
more  effective  capacity. 

From  the  West  also  came  reports,  in  this  autumn 
of  1864,  from  a  fighting  general.  Sherman  had 
carried  the  army,  after  its  success  at  Chattanooga, 
through  the  long  line  of  advance  to  Atlanta,  by 
outflanking  movements  against  Joe  Johnston,  the 
Fabius  of  the  Confederacy,  and  when  Johnston 
had  been  replaced  by  the  headstrong  Hood,  had 
promptly  taken  advantage  of  Hood's  rashness  to 
shatter  the  organisation  of  the  army  of  Georgia. 
The  capture  of  Atlanta  in  September,  1864, 
brought  to  Lincoln  in  Washington  and  to  the 
North  the  feeling  of  certainty  that  the  days  of 
the  Confederacy  were  numbered. 

The  second  invasion  of  Tennessee  by  the  army 
of  Hood,  rendered  possible  by  the  march  of 
Sherman  to  the  sea,  appeared  for  the  moment 
to  threaten  the  control  that  had  been  secured 
of  the  all-important  region  of  which  Nashville 
was  the  centre,  but  Hood's  march  could  only  be 
described  as  daring  but  futile.  He  had  no  base 
and  no  supplies.  His  advance  did  some  desperate 
fighting  at  the  battle  of  Franklin  and  succeeded 
in  driving  back  the  rear-guard  of  Thomas's  army, 


Abraham  Lincoln 


ably  commanded  by  General  Schofield,  but  the 
Confederate  ranks  were  so  seriously  shattered 
that  when  they  took  position  in  front  of  Nash 
ville  they  no  longer  had  adequate  strength  to 
make  the  siege  of  the  city  serious  even  as  a 
threat.  Thomas  had  only  to  wait  until  his  own 
preparations  were  completed  and  then,  on  the 
same  day  in  December  on  which  Sherman  was 
entering  Savannah,  Thomas,  so  to  speak,  "took 
possession"  of  Hood's  army.  After  the  fight  at 
Nashville,  there  were  left  of  the  Confederate 
invaders  only  a  few  scattered  divisions. 

It  was  just  before  the  news  of  the  victory  at 
Nashville  that  Lincoln  made  time  to  write  the 
letter  to  Mrs.  Bixby  whose  name  comes  into 
history  as  an  illustration  of  the  thoughtful 
sympathy  of  the  great  captain: 

"  I  have  been  shown  in  the  files  of  the  War  Depart 
ment  a  statement  of  the  adjutant-general  of  Massa 
chusetts  that  you  are  the  mother  of  five  sons  who 
died  gloriously  on  the  field  of  battle.  I  feel  how 
weak  and  fruitless  must  be  any  words  of  mine  which 
should  attempt  to  beguile  you  from  the  grief  of  a 
loss  so  overwhelming,  but  I  cannot  refrain  from 
tendering  to  you  the  consolation  that  may  be  found 
in  the  thanks  of  the  Republic  they  died  to  save. 
I  pray  that  our  Heavenly  Father  may  assuage  the 


The  Final  Campaign  153 

anguish  of  your  bereavement  and  leave  you  only 
the  cherished  memory  of  the  loved  and  lost  and  the 
pride  that  must  be  yours  to  have  laid  so  costly  a 
sacrifice  upon  the  altar  of  freedom. " 

In  March,  1864,  Lincoln  writes  to  Grant: 
"New  York  votes  to  give  votes  to  the  soldiers. 
Tell  the  soldiers."  The  decision  of  New  York 
in  regard  to  the  collection  from  the  soldiefs  in 
each  field  of  the  votes  for  the  coming  Presidential 
election  was  in  line  with  that  arrived  at  by  all 
of  the  States.  The  plan  presented  difficulties 
and,  in  connection  with  the  work  of  special  com 
missioners,  it  involved  also  expense.  It  was, 
however,  on  every  ground  desirable  that  the  men 
who  were  risking  their  lives  in  defence  of  the 
nation  should  be  given  the  opportunity  of  taking 
part  in  the  selection  of  the  nation's  leader,  who 
was  also  under  the  Constitution  the  commander- 
in-chief  of  the  armies  in  the  field.  The  votes  of 
some  four  hundred  thousand  men  constituted  also 
an  important  factor  in  the  election  itself.  I  am 
not  sure  that  the  attempt  was  ever  made  to 
separate  and  classify  the  soldiers'  vote  but  it  is 
probable  that  although  the  Democratic  candidate 
was  McClellan,  a  soldier  who  had  won  the  affection 
of  the  men  serving  under  him,  and  the  opposing 
candidate  was  a  civilian,  a  substantial  majority 


154  Abraham  Lincoln 

of  the  vote  of  the  soldiers  was  given  to  Lincoln. 

Secretary  Chase  had  fallen  into  the  habit  of 
emphasising  what  he  believed  to  be  his  indispen- 
sability  in  the  Cabinet  by  threatening  to  resign, 
or  even  by  submitting  a  resignation,  whenever 
his  suggestions  or  conclusions  met  with  opposition. 
These  threats  had  been  received  with  patience 
up  to  the  point  when  patience  seemed  to  be  no 
longer  a  virtue;  but  finally,  when  (in  May,  1864) 
such  a  resignation  was  tendered  under  some 
aggravation  of  opposition  or  of  criticism,  very 
much  to  Chase's  surprise  the  resignation  was 
accepted. 

The  Secretary  had  had  in  train  for  some  months 
active  plans  for  becoming  the  Republican  candidate 
for  the  Presidential  campaign  of  1864.  Evidence 
had  from  time  to  time  during  the  preceding  year 
been  brought  to  Lincoln  of  Chase's  antagonism 
and  of  his  hopes  of  securing  the  leadership  of 
the  party.  Chase's  opposition  to  certain  of 
Lincoln's  policies  was  doubtless  honest  enough. 
He  had  brought  himself  to  believe  that  Lincoln 
did  not  possess  the  force  and  the  qualities  required 
to  bring  the  War  to  a  close.  He  had  also  con 
vinced  himself  that  he,  Chase,  was  the  man, 
and  possibly  was  the  only  man,  who  was  fitted 
to  meet  the  special  requirements  of  the  task. 


The  Final  Campaign  155 

Mr.  Chase  did  possess  the  confidence  of  the  more 
extreme  of  the  anti-slavery  groups  throughout 
the  country.  His  administration  of  the  Treasury 
had  been  able  and  valuable,  but  the  increasing 
difficulty  that  had  been  found  in  keeping  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  harmonious  relations 
with  the  other  members  of  the  administration 
caused  his  retirement  to  be  on  the  whole  a  relief. 
Lincoln  came  to  the  conclusion  that  more  effective 
service  could  be  secured  from  some  other  man, 
even  if  possessing  less  ability,  whose  tempera 
ment  made  it  possible  for  him  to  work  in  co 
operation.  The  unexpected  acceptance  of  the 
resignation  caused  to  Chase  and  to  Chase's  friends 
no  little  bitterness,  which  found  vent  in  sharp 
criticisms  of  the  President.  Neither  bitterness 
nor  criticisms  could,  however,  prevent  Lincoln 
from  retaining  a  cordial  appreciation  for  the 
abilities  and  the  patriotism  of  the  man,  and, 
later  in  the  year,  Lincoln  sent  in  his  nomination 
as  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme  Court.  Chase 
himself,  in  his  lack  of  capacity  to  appreciate  the 
self- forget  fulness  of  Lincoln's  nature,  was  probably 
more  surprised  by  his  nomination  as  Chief  Justice 
than  he  had  been  by  the  acceptance  of  his  resigna 
tion  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

In  July,  1864,  comes  a  fresh  risk  of  international 


156  Abraham  Lincoln 

complications  through  the  invasion  of  Mexico 
by  a  French  army  commanded  by  Bazaine,  seven 
years  later  to  be  known  as  the  (more  or  less)  hero 
of  Metz.  Louis  Napoleon  had  been  unwilling 
to  give  up  his  dream  of  a  French  empire,  or  of  an 
empire  instituted  under  French  influence,  in 
the  Western  Hemisphere.  He  was  still  hopeful, 
if  not  confident,  that  the  United  States  would  not 
be  able  to  maintain  its  existence;  and  he  felt 
assured  that  if  the  Southern  Confederacy  should 
finally  be  established  with  the  friendly  co-opera 
tion  of  France,  he  would  be  left  unmolested  to 
carry  out  his  own  schemes  in  Mexico.  He  had 
induced  an  honest-minded  but  not  very  clear 
headed  Prince,  Maximilian,  the  brother  of  the 
Emperor  of  Austria,  to  accept  a  throne  in 
Mexico  to  be  established  by  French  bayonets, 
and  which,  as  the  result  showed,  could  sustain 
itself  only  while  those  bayonets  were  available. 
The  presence  of  French  troops  on  American  soil 
brought  fresh  anxieties  to  the  administration; 
but  it  was  recognised  that  nothing  could  be  done 
for  the  moment,  and  Lincoln  and  his  advisers 
were  hopeful  that  the  Mexicans,  before  their 
capital  had  been  taken  possession  of  by  the 
invader,  would  be  able  to  maintain  some  national 
government  until,  with  the  successful  close  of 


The  Final   Campaign  157 

its  own  War,  the  United  States  could  come  to 
the  defence  of  the  sister  republic. 

The  extreme  anti-slavery  group  of  the  Repub 
lican  party  had,  as  indicated,  never  been  fully 
satisfied  with  the  thoroughness  of  the  anti- 
slavery  policy  of  the  administration  and  Mr. 
Chase  retained  until  the  action  of  the  convention 
in  June  the  hope  that  he  might  through  the 
influence  of  this  group  secure  the  Presidency. 
Lincoln  remarks  in  connection  with  this  candidacy : 
"If  Chase  becomes  President,  all  right.  I  hope 
we  may  never  have  a  worse  man. ' '  From  the 
more  conservative  wing  of  the  Republican  party 
came  suggestions  as  to  the  nomination  of 
Grant  and  this  plan  brought  from  Lincoln  the 
remark:  "If  Grant  takes  Richmond,  by  all 
means  let  him  have  the  nomination."  When  the 
delegates  came  together,  however,  in  Baltimore, 
it  was  evident  that,  representing  as  they  did 
the  sober  and  well-thought-out  convictions  of 
the  people,  no  candidacy  but  that  of  Lincoln 
could  secure  consideration  and  his  nomination 
was  practically  unanimous. 

The  election  in  November  gave  evidence  that, 
even  in  the  midst  of  civil  war,  a  people's  govern 
ment  can  sustain  the  responsibility  of  a  national 
election.  The  large  popular  majorities  in  nearly 


158  Abraham  Lincoln 

all  of  the  voting  States  constituted  not  only  a 
cordial  recognition  of  the  service  that  was  being 
rendered  by  Lincoln  and  by  Lincoln's  adminis 
tration,  but  a  substantial  assurance  that  the  cause 
of  nationality  was  to  be  sustained  with  all  the 
resources  of  the  nation.  The  Presidential  election 
of  this  year  gave  the  final  blow  to  the  hopes  of  the 
Confederacy. 

I  had  myself  a  part  in  a  very  small  division 
of  this  election,  a  division  which  could  have  no 
effect  in  the  final  gathering  of  the  votes,  but  which 
was  in  a  way  typical  of  the  spirit  of  the  army. 
On  the  6th  of  November,  1864,  I  was  in  Libby 
Prison,  having  been  captured  at  the  battle  of 
Cedar  Creek  in  October.  It  was  decided  to  hold 
a  Presidential  election  in  the  prison,  although 
some  of  us  were  rather  doubtful  as  to  the  policy 
and  anxious  in  regard  to  the  result.  The  exchange 
of  prisoners  had  been  blocked  for  nearly  a  year 
on  the  ground  of  the  refusal  on  the  part  of  the 
South  to  exchange  the  coloured  troops  or  white 
officers  who  held  commissions  in  coloured  regi 
ments.  Lincoln  took  the  ground,  very  properly, 
that  all  of  the  nation's  soldiers  must  be  treated 
alike  and  must  be  protected  by  a  uniform  policy. 
Until  the  coloured  troops  should  be  included  in 
the  exchange,  "there  can,"  said  Lincoln,  "be  no 


The  Final  Campaign  159 

exchanging  of  prisoners."  This  decision,  while 
sound,  just,  and  necessary,  brought,  naturally, 
a  good  deal  of  dissatisfaction  to  the  men  in  prison 
and  to  their  friends  at  home.  When  I  reached 
Libby  in  October,  I  found  there  men  who  had  been 
prisoners  for  six  or  seven  months  and  who  (as 
far  as  they  lived  to  get  out)  were  to  be  prisoners 
for  five  months  more.  Through  the  winter  of 
1864-65,  the  illness  and  mortality  in  the  Virginia 
prisons  of  Libby  and  Danville  were  very  severe. 
It  was  in  fact  a  stupid  barbarity  on  the  part  of  the 
Confederate  authorities  to  keep  any  prisoners 
in  Richmond  during  that  last  winter  of  the  War. 
It  was  not  easy  to  secure  by  the  two  lines  of  road 
(one  of  which  was  continually  being  cut  by  our 
troops)  sufficient  supplies  for  Lee's  army.  It  was 
difficult  to  bring  from  the  granaries  farther  south, 
in  addition  to  the  supplies  required  for  the  army, 
food  for  the  inhabitants  of  the  town.  It  was 
inevitable  under  the  circumstances  that  the 
prisoners  should  be  neglected  and  that  in  addi 
tion  to  the  deaths  from  cold  (the  blankets,  the 
overcoats,  and  the  shoes  had  been  taken  from  the 
prisoners  because  they  were  needed  by  the  rebel 
troops)  there  should  be  further  deaths  from 
starvation. 

It  was  not  unnatural  that  under  such  conditions, 


160  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  prisoners  should  have  ground  not  only  for 
bitter  indignation  with  the  prison  authorities, 
but  for  discontent  with  their  own  administration. 
One  may  in  fact  be  surprised  that  starving  and 
dying  men  should  have  retained  any  assured 
spirit  of  loyalty.  When  the  vote  for  President 
came  to  be  counted,  we  found  that  we  had  elected 
Lincoln  by  more  than  three  to  one.  The  soldiers 
felt  that  Lincoln  was  the  man  behind  the  guns. 
The  prison  votes,  naturally  enough,  reached  no 
ballot  boxes  and  my  individual  ballot  in  any  case 
would  not  have  been  legal  as  I  was  at  the  time 
but  twenty  years  of  age.  I  can  but  feel,  however, 
that  this  vote  of  the  prisoners  was  typical  and 
important,  and  I  have  no  doubt  it  was  so  recog 
nised  when  later  the  report  of  the  voting  reached 
Washington. 

In  December,  1864,  occurred  one  of  the  too- 
frequent  cabals  on  the  part  of  certain  members 
of  the  Cabinet.  Pressure  was  brought  to  bear 
upon  Lincoln  to  get  rid  of  Seward.  Lincoln's 
reply  made  clear  that  he  proposed  to  remain 
President.  He  says  to  the  member  reporting 
for  himself  and  his  associates  the  protest  against 
Seward:  "I  propose  to  be  the  sole  judge  as  to 
the  dismissal  or  appointment  of  the  members 
of  my  Cabinet."  Lincoln  could  more  than  once 


The  Final  Campaign  161 

have  secured  peace  within  the  Cabinet  and  a 
smoother  working  of  the  administrative  machinery 
if  he  had  been  willing  to  replace  the  typical  and 
idiosyncratic  men  whom  he  had  associated  with 
himself  in  the  government  by  more  commonplace 
citizens,  who  would  have  been  competent  to 
carry  on  the  routine  responsibilities  of  their  posts. 
The  difficulty  of  securing  any  consensus  of  opinion 
or  any  working  action  between  men  differing 
from  each  other  as  widely  as  did  Chase,  Stanton, 
Blair,  and  Seward,  in  temperament,  in  judgment, 
and  in  honest  convictions  as  to  the  proper  policy 
for  the  nation,  was  an  attempt  that  brought  upon 
the  chief  daily  burdens  and  many  keen  anxieties. 
Lincoln  insisted,  however,  that  it  was  all-important 
for  the  proper  carrying  on  of  the  contest  that 
the  Cabinet  should  contain  representatives  of  the 
several  loyal  sections  of  the  country  and  of  the 
various  phases  of  opinion.  The  extreme  anti- 
slavery  men  were  entitled  to  be  heard  even  though 
their  spokesman  Chase  was  often  intemperate, 
ill-judged,  bitter,  and  unfair.  The  Border  States 
men  had  a  right  to  be  represented  and  it  was  all- 
essential  that  they  should  feel  that  they  had  a 
part  in  the  War  government  even  though  their 
spokesman  Blair  might  show  himself,  as  he  often 
did  show  himself,  quite  incapable  of  understanding, 

XI 


162  Abraham  Lincoln 

much  less  of  sympathising  with,  the  real  spirit 
of  the  North.  Stanton  might  be  truculent  and 
even  brutal,  but  he  was  willing  to  work,  he  knew 
how  to  organise,  he  was  devotedly  loyal.  Seward, 
scholar  and  statesman  as  he  was,  had  been  ready 
to  give  needless  provocation  to  Europe  and  was 
often  equally  ill-judged  in  his  treatment  of  the 
conservative  Border  States  on  the  one  hand  and 
of  the  New  England  abolitionists  on  the  other, 
but  Seward  was  a  patriot  as  well  as  a  scholar 
and  was  a  representative  not  only  of  New  York 
but  of  the  best  of  the  Whig  Republican  sentiment 
of  the  entire  North,  and  Seward  could  not  be 
spared.  It  is  difficult  to  recall  in  history  a 
government  made  up  of  such  discordant  elements 
which  through  the  patience,  tact,  and  genius 
of  one  man  was  made  to  do  effective  work. 

In  February,  1865,  in  response  to  suggestions 
from  the  South  which  indicated  the  possibility 
of  peace,  Lincoln  accepted  a  meeting  with  Alex 
ander  H.  Stephens  and  twro  other  commissioners 
to  talk  over  measures  for  bringing  the  War  to  a 
close.  The  meeting  was  held  on  a  gun-boat  on 
the  James  River.  It  seems  probable  from  the 
later  history  that  Stephens  had  convinced  himself 
that  the  Confederacy  could  not  conquer  its  in 
dependence  and  that  it  only  remained  to  secure 


The  Final  Campaign  163 

the  best  terms  possible  for  a  surrender.  On  the 
other  hand,  Jefferson  Davis  was  not  yet  prepared 
to  consider  any  terms  short  of  a  recognition  of 
the  independence  of  the  Confederacy,  and  Stephens 
could  act  only  under  the  instructions  received 
from  Richmond.  It  was  Lincoln's  contention 
that  the  government  of  the  United  States  could 
not  treat  with  rebels  (or,  dropping  the  word 
"rebels,"  with  its  own  citizens)  in  arms.  "The 
first  step  in  negotiations,  must,"  said  Lincoln, 
1 '  be  the  laying  down  of  arms.  There  is  no  prece 
dent  in  history  for  a  government  entering  into 
negotiations  with  its  own  armed  citizens.  " 

"But  there  is  a  precedent,  Mr.  Lincoln,"  said 
Stephens,  "King  Charles  of  England  treated 
with  the  Cromwellians. " 

"Yes,"  said  Lincoln,  "I  believe  that  is  so. 
I  usually  leave  historical  details  to  Mr.  Seward, 
who  is  a  student.  It  is,  however,  my  memory 
that  King  Charles  lost  his  head.  " 

It  soon  became  evident  that  there  was  no  real 
basis  for  negotiations,  and  Stephens  and  his  asso 
ciates  had  to  return  to  Richmond  disappointed. 
In  the  same  month,  was  adopted  by  both  Houses 
of  Congress  the  Thirteenth  Amendment,  which 
prohibited  slavery  throughout  the  whole  dominion 
of  the  United  States.  By  the  close  of  1865,  this 


1 64  Abraham  Lincoln 

amendment  had  been  confirmed  by  thirty-three 
States.  It  is  probable  that  among  these  thirty- 
three  there  were  several  States  the  names  of 
which  were  hardly  familiar  to  some  of  the  older 
citizens  of  the  South,  the  men  who  had  accepted 
the  responsibility  for  the  rebellion.  The  state 
of  mind  of  these  older  Southerners  in  regard 
more  particularly  to  the  resources  of  the  North 
west  was  recalled  to  me  years  after  the  War  by 
an  incident  related  by  General  Sherman  at  a 
dinner  of  the  New  England  Society.  Sherman 
said  that  during  the  march  through  Georgia 
he  had  found  himself  one  day  at  noon,  when 
near  the  head  of  his  column,  passing  below  the 
piazza,  of  a  comfortable-looking  old  plantation 
house.  He  stopped  to  rest  on  the  piazza,  with 
one  or  two  of  his  staff  and  was  received  by  the 
old  planter  with  all  the  courtliness  that  a  Southern 
gentleman  could  show,  even  to  an  invader,  when 
doing  the  honours  of  his  own  house.  The  General 
and  the  planter  sat  on  the  piazza,  looking  at 
the  troops  below  and  discussing,  as  it  was  inevi 
table  under  the  circumstances  that  they  must 
discuss,  the  causes  of  the  War. 

"General,"  said  the  planter,  "what  troops  are 
those  passing  below?"  The  General  leans  over 
the  piazza  and  calls  to  the  standard  bearers, 


The  Final  Campaign  165 

"Throw  out  your  flag,  boys,"  and  as  the  flag 
was  thrown  out,  he  reports  to  his  host,  "The  3oth 
Wisconsin." 

"Wisconsin?"  said  the  planter,  "Wisconsin? 
Where  is  Wisconsin? " 

"It  is  one  of  the  States  of  the  North-west," 
said  Sherman. 

"When  I  was  studying  geography,"  said  the 
planter,  "I  knew  of  Wisconsin  simply  as  the 
name  of  a  tribe  of  Indians.  How  many  men  are 
there  in  a  regiment?" 

"Well,  there  were  a  thousand  when  they 
started,"  said  Sherman. 

"Do  you  mean  to  say, "  said  the  planter,  "that 
there  is  a  State  called  Wisconsin  that  has  sent 
thirty  thousand  men  into  your  armies?" 

"Oh,  probably  forty  thousand,"  answered  Sher 
man. 

With  the  next  battalion  the  questions  and 
the  answers  are  repeated.  The  flag  was  that 
of  a  Minnesota  regiment,  say  the  32d.  The  old 
planter  had  never  heard  that  there  was  such  a 
State. 

"My  God!"  he  said  when  he  had  figured 
out  the  thousands  of  men  who  had  come  to  the 
front,  from  these  so-called  Indian  territories,  to 
maintain  the  existence  of  the  nation,  "If  we  in 


1 66  Abraham  Lincoln 

the  South  had  known  that  you  had  turned  those 
Indian  territories  into  great  States,  we  never 
should  have  gone  into  this  war. "  The  incident 
throws  a  light  upon  the  state  of  mind  of  men  in 
the  South,  even  of  well  educated  men  in  the  South, 
at  the  outbreak  of  the  War.  They  might,  of 
course,  have  known  by  statistics  that  great  States 
had  grown  up  in  the  North-west,  representing  a 
population  of  millions  and  able  themselves  to  put 
into  the  field  armies  to  be  counted  by  the  thou 
sand.  They  might  have  realised  that  these 
great  States  of  the  North-west  were  vitally  con 
cerned  with  the  necessity  of  keeping  the  Mississippi 
open  for  their  trade  from  its  source  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico.  They  might  have  known  that  those 
States,  largely  settled  from  New  England,  were 
absolutely  opposed  to  slavery.  This  know 
ledge  was  within  their  reach  but  they  had  not 
realised  the  facts  of  the  case.  It  was  their  feeling 
that  in  the  coming  contest  they  would  have  to 
do  only  with  New  England  and  the  Middle  States 
and  they  felt  that  they  were  strong  enough  to 
hold  their  own  against  this  group  of  opponents. 
That  feeling  would  have  been  justified.  The 
South  could  never  have  been  overcome  and  .the 
existence  of  the  nation  could  never  have  been 
maintained  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  loyal  co- 


The  Final  Campaign  167 

operation  and  the  magnificent  resources  of  men 
and  of  national  wealth  that  were  contributed  to 
the  cause  by  the  States  of  the  North-west.  In 
1880,  I  had  occasion,  in  talking  to  the  two  thou 
sand  students  of  the  University  of  Minnesota, 
to  recall  the  utterance  of  the  old  planter.  The 
students  of  that  magnificent  University,  placed 
in  a  beautiful  city  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  inhabitants,  found  it  difficult  on  their 
part  to  realise,  amidst  their  laughter  at  the  igno 
rance  of  the  old  planter,  just  what  the  relations 
of  the  South  had  been  before  the  War  to  the  new 
free  communities  of  the  North-west. 

In  February,  1865,  with  the  fall  of  Fort  Fisher 
and  the  capture  of  Wilmington,  the  control  of 
the  coast  of  the  Confederacy  became  complete. 
The  Southerners  and  their  friends  in  Great 
Britain  and  the  Bahamas  (a  group  of  friends 
whose  sympathies  for  the  cause  were  very  much 
enhanced  by  the  opportunity  of  making  large 
profits  out  of  their  friendly  relations)  had  shown 
during  the  years  of  the  War  exceptional  ingenuity, 
daring,  and  persistence  in  carrying  on  the  blockade- 
running.  The  ports  of  the  British  West  Indies 
were  very  handy,  and,  particularly  during  the 
stormy  months  of  the  winter,  it  was  hardly 
practicable  to  maintain  an  absolutely  assured 


1 68  Abraham  Lincoln 

barrier  of  blockades  along  a  line  of  coast  aggre 
gating  about  two  thousand  miles.  The  profits 
on  a  single  voyage  on  the  cotton  taken  out  and  on 
the  stores  brought  back  were  sufficient  to  make 
good  the  loss  of  both  vessel  and  cargo  in  three 
disastrous  trips.  The  blockade-runners,  South 
erners  and  Englishmen,  took  their  lives  in  their 
hands  and  they  fairly  earned  all  the  returns  that 
came  to  them.  I  happened  to  have  early  expe 
rience  of  the  result  of  the  fall  of  Fort  Fisher  and 
of  the  final  closing  of  the  last  inlet  for  British 
goods.  I  was  at  the  time  in  prison  in  Danville, 
Virginia.  I  was  one  of  the  few  men  in  the  prison 
(the  group  comprised  about  a  dozen)  who  had 
been  fortunate  enough  to  retain  a  tooth-brush. 
We  wore  our  tooth-brushes  fastened  into  the  front 
button-holes  of  our  blouses,  partly  possibly  from 
ostentation,  but  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  keeping 
them  from  being  stolen.  I  was  struck  by  receiv 
ing  an  offer  one  morning  from  the  lieutenant  of 
the  prison  guard  of  $300  for  my  tooth-brush. 
The  " dollars"  meant  of  course  Confederate 
dollars  and  I  doubtless  hardly  realised  from  the 
scanty  information  that  leaked  into  the  prison 
how  low  down  in  February,  1865,  Confederate 
currency  had  depreciated.  But  still  it  was  a 
large  sum  and  the  tooth-brush  had  been  in  use 


The  Final  Campaign  169 

for  a  number  of  months.  It  then  leaked  out 
from  a  word  dropped  by  the  lieutenant  that  no 
more  English  tooth-brushes  could  get  into  the 
Confederacy  and  those  of  us  who  had  been  study 
ing  possibilities  on  the  coast  realised  that  Fort 
Fisher  must  have  fallen. 

In  this  same  month  of  February,  into  which  were 
crowded  some  of  the  most  noteworthy  of  the 
closing  events  of  the  War,  Charleston  was  evacu 
ated  as  Sherman's  army  on  its  sweep  northward 
passed  back  of  the  city.  I  am  not  sure  whether 
the  fiercer  of  the  old  Chariest onians  were  not 
more  annoyed  at  the  lack  of  attention  paid  by 
Sherman  to  the  fire-eating  little  city  in  which 
four  years  back  had  been  fired  the  gun  that 
opened  the  War,  than  they  would  have  been 
by  an  immediate  and  strenuous  occupation. 
Sherman  had  more  important  matters  on  hand 
than  the  business  of  looking  after  the  original 
fire-eaters.  He  was  hurrying  northward,  close 
on  the  heels  of  Johnston,  to  prevent  if  possible 
the  combination  of  Johnston's  troops  with  Lee's 
army  which  was  supposed  to  be  retreating  from 
Virginia. 

On  the  4th  of  March  comes  the  second  inaugural, 
in  which  Lincoln  speaks  almost  in  the  language 
of  a  Hebrew  prophet.  The  feeling  is  strong  upon 


170  Abraham  Lincoln 

him  that  the  clouds  of  war  are  about  to  roll  away 
but  he  cannot  free  himself  from  the  oppression 
that  the  burdens  of  the  War  have  produced.  The 
emphasis  is  placed  on  the  all-important  task 
of  bringing  the  enmities  to  a  close  with  the  end 
of  the  actual  fighting.  He  points  out  that  respon 
sibilities  rest  upon  the  North  as  well  as  upon  the 
South  and  he  invokes  from  those  who  under  his 
leadership  are  bringing  the  contest  to  a  triumphant 
close,  their  sympathy  and  their  help  for  their 
fellow-men  who  have  been  overcome.  The  ad 
dress  is  possibly  the  most  impressive  utterance 
ever  made  by  a  national  leader  and  it  is  most 
characteristic  of  the  fineness  and  largeness  of 
nature  of  the  man.  I  cite  the  closing  paragraph : 

"If  we  shall  suppose  that  slavery  is  one  of  those 
offences  which  in  the  providence  of  God  needs  must 
come,  and  which  having  continued  through  His 
appointed  time,  He  now  wills  to  remove,  and  that 
He  gives  to  both  North  and  South  this  terrible  war 
as  the  woe  to  those  by  whom  the  offence  came,  shall 
we  discern  therein  any  departure  from  those  Divine 
attributes,  which  the  believers  in  the  Living  God 
always  ascribe  to  Him?  Fondly  do  we  hope,  fer 
vently  do  we  pray,  that  this  mighty  scourge  of  war 
may  speedily  pass  away.  Yet  if  God  wills  that  it 
should  continue  until  all  the  wealth  piled  by  the 
bondsmen  in  two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  unre 
quited  toil  shall  be  sunk,  and  until  every  drop  of 


The  Final  Campaign  171 

blood  drawn  with  the  lash  shall  be  paid  for  by  an 
other  drop  of  blood  drawn  by  the  War,  as  was  said 
two  thousand  years  ago  so  still  it  must  be  said,  that 
the  judgments  of  the  Lord  are  true,  and  righteous 
altogether.  .  .  .  With  malice  towards  none,  with 
charity  for  all,  with  firmness  in  the  right  as  God 
gives  us  to  see  the  right,  let  us  strive  to  finish  the 
work  we  are  in,  to  bind  up  the  nation's  wounds,  to 
care  for  him  who  shall  have  borne  the  battle  and 
for  his  widow  and  for  his  orphans,  to  do  all  which 
may  achieve  and  cherish  a  just  and  a  lasting  peace 
among  ourselves  and  with  all  nations. " 

After  the  election  of  1864,  Lincoln's  word  had 
been  "a  common  cause,  a  common  interest,  and 
a  common  country."  The  invocation  in  this 
last  inaugural  is  based  upon  the  understanding 
that  there  is  again  a  common  country  and  that 
in  caring  for  those  who  have  been  in  the  battle 
and  in  the  binding  up  of  the  wounds,  there  is  to 
be  no  distinction  between  the  men  of  the  grey 
and  those  of  the  blue. 

At  the  close  of  February,  Lee,  who  realises  that 
his  weakened  lines  cannot  much  longer  be  main 
tained,  proposes  to  Grant  terms  of  adjustment. 
Grant  replies  that  his  duties  are  purely  military 
and  that  he  has  no  authority  to  discuss  any 
political  relations.  On  the  first  of  April,  the 
right  wing  of  Lee's  army  is  overwhelmed  and 
driven  back  by  Sheridan  at  Five  Forks,  and  on 


Abraham  Lincoln 

the  day  following  Richmond  is  evacuated  by  the 
rear-guard  of  Lee's  army.  The  defence  of  Rich 
mond  during  the  long  years  of  the  War  (a 
defence  which  was  carried  on  chiefly  from  the 
entrenchments  of  Petersburg),  by  the  skill  of  the 
engineers  and  by  the  patient  courage  of  the  troops, 
had  been  magnificent.  It  must  always  take  a 
high  rank  in  the  history  of  war  operations.  The 
skilful  use  made  of  positions  of  natural  strength, 
the  high  skill  shown  in  the  construction  of  works 
to  meet  first  one  emergency  and  then  another, 
the  economic  distribution  of  constantly  diminish 
ing  resources,  the  clever  disposition  of  forces, 
(which  during  the  last  year  were  being  steadily 
reduced  from  month  to  month),  in  such  fashion 
that  at  the  point  of  probable  contact  there  seemed 
to  be  always  men  enough  to  make  good  the  de 
fence,  these  things  were  evidence  of  the  military 
skill,  the  ingenuity,  the  resourcefulness,  and  the 
enduring  courage  of  the  leaders.  The  skill  and 
character  of  Lee  and  his  associates  would  however 
of  course  have  been  in  vain  and  the  lines  would 
have  been  broken  not  in  1865,  but  in  1863  or  *n 
1 862 ,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  magnificent  patience 
and  heroism  of  the  rank  and  file  that  fought  in 
the  grey  uniform  under  the  Stars  and  Bars  and 
whose  fighting  during  the  last  of  those  months 


The  Final  Campaign  173 

was  done  in  tattered  uniforms  and  with  a  ration 
less  by  from  one  quarter  to  one  half  than  that 
which  had  been  accepted  as  normal. 

On  the  second  of  April,  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
are  borne  into  Richmond  by  the  advance  brigade 
of  the  right  wing  of  Grant's  army  under  the 
command  of  General  Weitzel.  There  was  a  cer 
tain  poetic  justice  in  the  decision  that  the  respon 
sibility  for  making  first  occupation  of  the  city 
should  be  entrusted  to  the  coloured  troops.  The 
city  had  been  left  by  the  rear-guard  of  the  Con 
federate  army  in  a  state  of  serious  confusion. 
The  Confederate  general  in  charge  (Lee  had 
gone  out  in  the  advance  hoping  to  be  able  to  break 
his  way  through  to  North  Carolina)  had  felt 
justified,  for  the  purpose  of  destroying  such  army 
stores  (chiefly  ammunition)  as  remained,  in 
setting  fire  to  the  storehouses,  and  in  so  doing 
he  had  left  whole  quarters  of  the  city  exposed 
to  flame.  White  stragglers  and  negroes  who  had 
been  slaves  had,  as  would  always  be  the  case 
where  all  authority  is  removed,  yielded  to  the 
temptation  to  plunder,  and  the  city  was  full  of 
drunken  and  irresponsible  men.  The  coloured 
troops  restored  order  and  appear  to  have 
behaved  with  perfect  discipline  and  consideration. 
The  marauders  were  arrested,  imprisoned,  and, 


174  Abraham  Lincoln 

when  necessary,  shot.  The  fires  were  put  out 
as  promptly  as  practicable,  but  not  until  a  large 
amount  of  very  unnecessary  damage  and  loss 
had  been  brought  upon  the  stricken  city.  The 
women  who  had  locked  themselves  into  their 
houses,  more  in  dread  of  the  Yankee  invader  than 
of  their  own  street  marauders,  were  agreeably 
surprised  to  find  that  their  immediate  safety 
and  the  peace  of  the  town  depended  upon  the 
invaders  and  that  the  first  battalions  of  these 
were  the  despised  and  much  hated  blacks. 

Upon  the  4th  of  April,  against  the  counsel  and 
in  spite  of  the  apprehensions  of  nearly  all  his 
advisers,  Lincoln  insisted  upon  coming  down 
the  river  from  Washington  and  making  his  way 
into  the  Rebel  capital.  There  was  no  thought 
of  vaingloriousness  or  of  posing  as  the  victor. 
He  came  under  the  impression  that  some  civil 
authorities  would  probably  have  remained  in 
Richmond  with  whom  immediate  measures  might 
be  taken  to  stop  unnecessary  fighting  and  to 
secure  for  the  city  and  for  the  State  a  return  of 
peaceful  government.  Thomas  Nast,  who  while 
not  a  great  artist  was  inspired  to  produce  during 
the  War  some  of  the  most  graphic  and  story 
telling  records  in  the  shape  of  pictures  of  events, 
made  a  drawing  which  was  purchased  later  by 


The  Final  Campaign  175 

the  New  York  Union  League  Club,  showing 
Lincoln  on  his  way  through  Main  Street,  with  the 
coloured  folks  of  the  town  and  of  the  surrounding 
country  crowding  about  the  man  whom  they 
hailed  as  their  deliverer,  and  in  their  enthusiastic 
adoration  trying  to  touch  so  much  as  the  hem 
of  his  garment.  The  picture  is  history  in  showing 
what  actually  happened  and  it  is  pathetic  history 
in  recalling  how  great  were  the  hopes  that  came 
to  the  coloured  people  from  the  success  of  the 
North  and  from  the  certainty  of  the  end  of  slavery. 
It  is  sad  to  recall  the  many  disappointments 
that  during  the  forty  years  since  the  occupation 
of  Richmond  have  hampered  the  uplifting  of 
the  race.  Lincoln's  hope  that  some  representa 
tive  of  the  Confederacy  might  have  remained  in 
Richmond,  if  only  for  the  purpose  of  helping  to 
bring  to  a  close  as  rapidly  as  possible  the  waste 
and  burdens  of  continued  war,  was  not  realised. 
The  members  of  the  Confederate  government 
seem  to  have  been  interested  only  in  getting  away 
from  Richmond  and  to  have  given  no  thought  to 
the  duty  they  owed  to  their  own  people  to  co 
operate  with  the  victors  in  securing  a  prompt 
return  of  law  and  order. 

On  the  gth  of  April,  came  the  surrender  of 
Lee  at  Appomattox,  four  years,  less  three  days, 


1 76  Abraham  Lincoln 

from  the  date  of  the  firing  of  the  first  gun  of  the 
War  at  Charleston.  The  muskets  turned  in  by 
the  ragged  and  starving  files  of  the  remnants  of 
Lee's  army  represented  only  a  small  portion  of 
those  which  a  few  days  earlier  had  been  holding 
the  entrenchments  at  Petersburg.  As  soon  as  it 
became  evident  that  the  army  was  not  going  to 
be  able  to  break  through  the  Federal  lines  and 
begin  a  fresh  campaign  in  North  Carolina,  the 
men  scattered  from  the  retreating  columns  right 
and  left,  in  many  cases  carrying  their  muskets 
to  their  own  homes  as  a  memorial  fairly  earned 
by  plucky  and  persistent  service.  There  never 
was  an  army  that  did  better  fighting  or  that  was 
better  deserving  of  the  recognition,  not  only  of 
the  States  in  behalf  of  whose  so-called  "indepen 
dence"  the  War  had  been  waged,  but  on  the  part 
of  opponents  who  were  able  to  realise  the  charac 
ter  and  the  effectiveness  of  the  fighting. 

The  scene  in  the  little  farm-house  where  the 
two  commanders  met  to  arrange  the  terms  of 
surrender  was  dramatic  in  more  ways  than  one. 
General  Lee  had  promptly  given  up  his  own 
baggage  waggon  for  use  in  carrying  food  for  the 
advance  brigade  and  as  he  could  save  but  one 
suit  of  clothes,  he  had  naturally  taken  his  best. 
He  was,  therefore,  notwithstanding  the  fatigues 


The  Final  Campaign  177 

and  the  privations  of  the  past  week,  in  full  dress 
uniform.  He  was  one  of  the  handsomest  men 
of  his  generation,  and  his  beauty  was  not  only 
of  feature  but  of  expression  of  character.  Grant, 
who  never  gave  much  thought  to  his  personal 
appearance,  had  for  days  been  away  from  his 
baggage  train,  and  under  the  urgency  of  keeping 
as  near  as  possible  to  the  front  line  with  reference 
to  the  probability  of  being  called  to  arrange 
terms  for  surrender,  he  had  not  found  the  oppor 
tunity  of  securing  a  proper  coat  in  place  of  his 
fatigue  blouse.  I  believe  that  even  his  sword 
had  been  mislaid,  but  he  was  able  to  borrow  one 
for  the  occasion  from  a  staff  officer.  When  the 
main  details  of  the  surrender  had  been  talked 
over,  Grant  looked  about  the  group  in  the  room, 
which  included,  in  addition  to  two  staff  officers 
who  had  come  with  Lee,  a  group  of  five  or  six  of 
his  own  assistants,  who  had  managed  to  keep  up 
with  the  advance,  to  select  the  aid  who  should 
write  out  the  paper.  His  eye  fell  upon  Colonel 
Ely  Parker,  a  brigade  commander  who  had  dur 
ing  the  past  few  months  served  on  Grant's  staff. 
"Colonel  Parker,  I  will  ask  you,"  said  Grant, 
"as  the  only  real  American  in  the  room,  to  draft 
this  paper."  Parker  was  a  full-blooded  Indian,  be 
longing  to  one  of  the  Iroquois  tribes  of  New  York. 


178  Abraham  Lincoln 

Grant's  suggestion  that  the  United  States  had 
no  requirement  for  the  horses  of  Lee's  army  and 
that  the  men  might  find  these  convenient  for 
"spring  ploughing"  was  received  by  Lee  with 
full  appreciation.  The  first  matter  in  order  after 
the  completion  of  the  surrender  was  the  issue  of 
rations  to  the  starving  Southern  troops.  "Gen 
eral  Grant,"  said  Lee,  "a  train  was  ordered  by 
way  of  Danville  to  bring  rations  to  meet  my  army 
and  it  ought  to  be  now  at  such  a  point, "  naming 
a  village  eight  or  nine  miles  to  the  south-west. 
General  Sheridan,  with  a  twinkle  in  his  eye,  now 
put  in  a  word:  "The  train  from  the  south  is  there, 
General  Lee,  or  at  least  it  was  there  yesterday.  My 
men  captured  it  and  the  rations  will  be  available. " 
General  Lee  turns,  mounts  his  old  horse  Traveller, 
a  valued  comrade,  and  rides  slowly  through  the 
ranks  first  of  the  blue  and  then  of  the  grey.  Every 
hat  came  off  from  the  men  in  blue  as  an  expression 
of  respect  to  a  great  soldier  and  a  true  gentleman, 
while  from  the  ranks  in  grey  there  was  one  great 
sob  of  passionate  grief  and  finally,  almost  for  the 
first  time  in  Lee's  army,  a  breaking  of  discipline  as 
the  men  crowded  forward  to  get  a  closer  look  at, 
or  possibly  a  grasp  of  the  hand  of,  the  great  leader 
who  had  fought  and  failed  but  whose  fighting  and 
whose  failure  had  been  so  magnificent. 


IX 

LINCOLN'S  TASK  ENDED 

ON  the  nth  of  April,  Lincoln  makes  his  last 
public  utterance.  In  a  brief  address  to  some 
gathering  in  Washington,  he  says,  "There  will 
shortly  be  announcement  of  a  new  policy."  It 
is  hardly  to  be  doubted  that  the  announcement 
which  he  had  in  mind  was  to  be  concerned  with 
the  problem  of  reconstruction.  He  had  already 
outlined  in  his  mind  the  essential  principles  on 
which  the  readjustment  must  be  made.  In 
this  same  address,  he  points  out  that  "whether 
or  not  the  seceded  States  be  out  of  the  Union, 
they  are  out  of  their  proper  relations  to  the  Union." 
We  may  feel  sure  that  he  would  not  have  per 
mitted  the  essential  matters  of  readjustment 
to  be  delayed  while  political  lawyers  were  arguing 
over  the  constitutional  issue.  On  one  side  was 
the  group  which  maintained  that  in  instituting 
the  Rebellion  and  in  doing  what  was  in  their 
power  to  destroy  the  national  existence,  the  people 

of  the  seceding  States  had  forfeited  all  claims 

179 


180  Abraham  Lincoln 

to  the  political  liberty  of  their  communities. 
According  to  this  contention,  the  Slave  States 
were  to  be  treated  as  conquered  territory,  and 
it  simply  remained  for  the  government  of  the 
United  States  to  reshape  this  territory  as  might 
be  found  convenient  or  expedient.  According 
to  the  other  view,  as  secession  was  itself  something 
which  was  not  to  be  admitted,  being,  from  the 
constitutional  point  of  view,  impossible,  there 
never  had  in  the  legal  sense  of  the  term  been  any 
secession.  The  instant  the  armed  rebellion  had 
been  brought  to  an  end,  the  rebelling  States 
were  to  be  considered  as  having  resumed  their 
old-time  relations  with  the  States  of  the  North 
and  with  the  central  government.  They  \vere 
under  the  same  obligations  as  before  for  taxation, 
for  subordination  in  foreign  relations,  and  for 
the  acceptance  of  the  control  of  the  Federal 
government  on  all  matters  classed  as  Federal. 
On  the  other  hand,  they  were  entitled  to  the 
privileges  that  had  from  the  beginning  been 
exercised  by  independent  States:  namely,  the 
control  of  their  local  affairs  on  matters  not  classed 
as  Federal,  and  they  had  a  right  to  their  propor 
tionate  representation  in  Congress  and  to  their 
proportion  of  the  electoral  vote  for  President. 
It  has  been  very  generally  recognised  in  the  South 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  181 

as  in  the  North  that  if  Lincoln  could  have  lived 
some  of  the  most  serious  of  the  difficulties  that 
arose  during  the  reconstruction  period  through  the 
friction  between  these  conflicting  theories  would 
have  been  avoided.  The  Southerners  would 
have  realised  that  the  head  of  the  government 
had  a  cordial  and  sympathetic  interest  in  doing 
what  might  be  practicable  not  only  to  re-establish 
their  relations  as  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
but  to  further  in  every  way  the  return  of  their 
communities  to  prosperity,  a  prosperity  which, 
after  the  loss  of  the  property  in  their  slaves 
and  the  enormous  destruction  of  their  general 
resources,  seemed  to  be  sadly  distant. 

On  the  1 4th  of  April,  comes  the  dramatic 
tragedy  ending  on  the  day  following  in  the  death 
of  Lincoln.  The  word  dramatic  applies  in  this 
instance  with  peculiar  fitness.  While  the  nation 
mourned  for  the  loss  of  its  leader,  while  the  soldiers 
were  stricken  with  grief  that  their  great  captain 
should  have  been  struck  down,  while  the  South 
might  well  be  troubled  that  the  control  and  adjust 
ment  of  the  great  interstate  perplexities  was  not 
to  be  in  the  hands  of  the  wise,  sympathetic,  and 
patient  ruler,  for  the  worker  himself  the  rest  after 
the  four  years  of  continuous  toil  and  fearful  bur 
dens  and  anxieties  might  well  have  been  grateful, 


1 82  Abraham  Lincoln 

The  great  task  had  been  accomplished  and  the 
responsibilities  accepted  in  the  first  inaugural 
had  been  fulfilled. 

In  March,  1861,  Lincoln  had  accepted  the  task 
of  steering  the  nation  through  the  storm  of  rebel 
lion,  the  divided  opinions  and  counsels  of  friends, 
and  the  fierce  onslaught  of  foes  at  home  and 
abroad.  In  April,  1865,  the  national  existence 
was  assured,  the  nation's  credit  was  established, 
the  troops  were  prepared  to  return  to  their  homes 
and  resume  their  work  as  citizens.  At  no  time 
in  history  had  any  people  been  able  against  such 
apparently  overwhelming  perils  and  difficulties  to 
maintain  a  national  existence.  There  was,  there 
fore,  notwithstanding  the  great  misfortune,  for 
the  people  South  and  North,  in  the  loss  of  the 
wise  ruler  at  a  time  when  so  many  difficulties 
remained  to  be  adjusted,  a  dramatic  fitness  in 
having  the  life  of  the  leader  close  just  as  the 
last  army  of  antagonists  was  laying  down  its 
arms.  The  first  problem  of  the  War  that  came 
to  the  administration  of  1861  was  that  of  restor 
ing  the  flag  over  Fort  Sumter.  On  the  i4th  of 
April,  the  day  when  Booth's  pistol  was  laying  low 
the  President,  General  Anderson,  who  four  years 
earlier  had  so  sturdily  defended  Sumter,  was  ful 
filling  the  duty  of  restoring  the  Stars  and  Stripes. 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  183 

The  news  of  the  death  of  Lincoln  came  to  the 
army  of  Sherman,  with  which  my  own  regiment 
happened  at  the  time  to  be  associated,  on  the 
1 7th  of  April.  On  leaving  Savannah,  Sherman 
had  sent  word  to  the  north  to  have  all  the  troops 
who  were  holding  posts  along  the  coasts  of  North 
Carolina  concentrated  on  a  line  north  of  Golds- 
borough.  It  was  his  dread  that  General  Johnston 
might  be  able  to  effect  a  junction  with  the  re 
treating  forces  of  Lee  and  it  was  important  to 
do  whatever  was  practicable,  either  with  forces  or 
with  a  show  of  forces,  to  delay  Johnston  and  to 
make  such  combination  impossible.  A  thin  line 
of  Federal  troops  was  brought  into  position  to 
the  north  of  Johnston's  advance,  but  Sherman 
himself  kept  so  closely  on  the  heels  of  his  plucky 
and  persistent  antagonist  that,  irrespective  of  any 
opposing  line  to  the  north,  Johnston  would  have 
found  it  impossible  to  continue  his  progress  to 
wards  Virginia.  He  was  checked  at  Golds- 
borough  after  the  battle  of  Bentonville  and  it 
was  at  Goldsborough  that  the  last  important 
force  of  the  Confederacy  was  surrendered. 

We  soldiers  learned  only  later  some  of  the 
complications  that  preceded  that  surrender. 
President  Davis  and  his  associates  in  the  Con 
federate  government  had,  with  one  exception. 


1 84  Abraham  Lincoln 

made  their  way  south,  passing  to  the  west  of 
Sherman's  advance.  The  exception  was  Post 
master-General  Reagan,  who  had  decided  to 
remain  with  General  Johnston.  He  appears  to 
have  made  good  with  Johnston  the  claim  that  he, 
Reagan,  represented  all  that  was  left  of  the  Con 
federate  government.  He  persuaded  Johnston  to 
permit  him  to  undertake  the  negotiations  with 
Sherman,  and  he  had,  it  seems,  the  ambition  of 
completing  with  his  own  authority  the  arrange 
ments  that  wrere  to  terminate  the  War.  Sherman, 
simple-hearted  man  that  he  was,  permitted  him 
self,  for  the  time,  to  be  confused  by  Reagan's 
semblance  of  authority.  He  executed  with 
Reagan  a  convention  which  covered  not  merely 
the  surrender  of  Johnston's  army  but  the  pre 
liminaries  of  a  final  peace.  This  convention  was 
of  course  made  subject  to  the  approval  of  the 
authorities  in  Washington.  When  it  came  into 
the  hands  of  President  Johnson,  it  was,  under  the 
counsel  of  Seward  and  Stanton,  promptly  disa 
vowed.  Johnson  instructed  Grant,  who  had 
reported  to  Washington  from  Appomattox,  to 
make  his  way  at  once  to  Goldsborough  and,  re 
lieving  Sherman,  to  arrange  for  the  surrender  of 
Johnston's  army  on  the  terms  of  Appomattox. 
Grant's  response  was  characteristic.  He  said  in 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  185 

substance:  "I  am  here,  Mr.  President,  to  obey 
orders  and  under  the  decision  of  the  Commander- 
in-chief  I  will  go  to  Goldsborough  and  will  carry 
out  your  instructions.  I  prefer,  however,  to  act 
as  a  messenger  simply.  I  am  entirely  unwilling 
to  take  out  of  General  Sherman's  hands  the  com 
mand  of  the  army  that  is  so  properly  Sherman's 
army  and  that  he  has  led  with  such  distinctive  suc 
cess.  General  Sherman  has  rendered  too  great  a 
service  to  the  country  to  make  it  proper  to  have 
him  now  humiliated  on  the  ground  of  a  political 
blunder,  and  I  at  least  am  unwilling  to  be  in  any 
way  a  party  to  his  humiliation." 

Stanton  was  disposed  to  approve  of  Johnson's 
first  instruction  and  to  have  Sherman  at  once 
relieved,  but  the  man  who  had  just  come  from 
Appomattox  was  too  strong  with  the  people  to 
make  it  easy  to  disregard  his  judgment  on  a  matter 
which  was  in  part  at  least  military.  The  Presi 
dent  was  still  new  to  his  office  and  he  was  still 
prepared  to  accept  counsel.  The  matter  was, 
therefore,  arranged  as  Grant  desired.  Grant 
took  the  instructions  and  had  his  personal  word 
with  Sherman,  but  this  word  was  so  quietly  given 
that  none  of  the  men  in  Sherman's  army,  possibly 
no  one  but  Sherman  himself,  knew  of  Grant's  visit. 
Grant  took  pains  so  to  arrange  the  last  stage  of 


1 86  Abraham  Lincoln 

his  journey  that  he  came  into  the  camp  at  Golds- 
borough  well  after  dark,  and,  after  an  hour's 
interview  with  Sherman,  he  made  his  way  at 
once  northward  outside  of  our  lines  and  of  our 
knowledge. 

On  Grant's  arrival,  Sherman  at  once  assumed 
that  he  was  to  be  superseded.  "No,  no,"  said 
Grant;  "  do  you  not  see  that  I  have  come  without 
even  a  sword  ?  There  is  here  no  question  of  super 
seding  the  commander  of  this  army,  but  simply  of 
correcting  an  error  and  of  putting  things  as  they 
were.  This  convention  must  be  cancelled.  You 
will  have  no  further  negotiation  with  Mr.  Reagan 
or  with  any  civilian  claiming  to  represent  the 
Confederacy.  Your  transactions  will  be  made 
with  the  commander  of  the  Confederate  army,  and 
you  will  accept  the  surrender  of  that  army  on 
the  terms  that  were  formulated  at  Appomattox." 
Sherman  was  keen  enough  to  understand  what 
must  have  passed  in  Washington,  and  was  able 
to  appreciate  the  loyal  consideration  shown  by 
General  Grant  in  the  successful  effort  to  protect 
the  honour  and  the  prestige  of  his  old  comrade. 
The  surrender  was  carried  out  on  the  26th  of 
April,  eleven  days  after  the  death  of  Lincoln. 
Johnston's  troops,  like  those  of  Lee,  were  dis 
tributed  to  their  homes.  The  officers  retained 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  187 

their  side-arms,  and  the  men,  leaving  their  rifles, 
took  with  them  not  only  such  horses  and  mules 
as  they  still  had  with  them  connected  with 
the  cavalry  or  artillery,  but  also  a  number  of 
horses  and  mules  which  had  been  captured  by 
Sherman's  army  and  which  had  not  yet  been 
placed  on  the  United  States  army  roster.  Sher 
man  understood,  as  did  Grant,  the  importance  of 
giving  to  these  poor  farmers  whatever  facilities 
might  be  available  to  enable  them  again  to  begin 
their  home  work.  Word  was  at  once  sent  to 
General  Johnston  after  Grant's  departure  that 
the  only  terms  that  could  be  considered  was  a 
surrender  of  the  army,  and  that  the  details  of  such 
surrender  Sherman  would  himself  arrange  with 
Johnston.  Reagan  slipped  away  southward  and 
is  not  further  heard  of  in  history. 

The  record  of  Lincoln's  relations  to  the  events 
of  the  War  would  not  be  complete  without  a 
reference  to  the  capture  of  Jefferson  Davis.  On 
returning  to  Washington  after  his  visit  to  Rich 
mond,  Lincoln  had  been  asked  what  should  be 
done  with  Davis  when  he  was  captured.  The 
answer  was  characteristic:  ''I  do  not  see,"  said 
Lincoln,  "  that  we  have  any  use  for  a  white  ele 
phant."  Lincoln's  clear  judgment  had  at  once 
recognised  the  difficulties  that  would  arise  in 


1 88  Abraham  Lincoln 

case  Davis  should  become  a  prisoner.  The  ques 
tion  as  to  the  treatment  of  the  ruler  of  the  late 
Confederacy  was  very  different  from,  and  much 
more  complicated  than,  the  fixing  of  terms  of 
surrender  for  the  Confederate  armies.  If  Davis 
had  succeeded  in  getting  out  of  the  country, 
it  is  probable  that  the  South,  or  at  least  a  large 
portion  of  the  South,  would  have  used  him  as  a 
kind  of  a  scapegoat.  Many  of  the  Confederate 
soldiers  were  indignant  with  Davis  for  his  bitter 
animosities  to  some  of  their  best  leaders.  Davis 
was  a  capable  man  and  had  in  him  the  elements  of 
statesmanship.  He  was,  however,  vain  and,  like 
some  other  vain  men,  placed  the  most  importance 
upon  the  capacities  in  which  he  was  the  least 
effective.  He  had  had  a  brief  and  creditable 
military  experience,  serving  as  a  lieutenant  with 
Scott's  army  in  Mexico,  and  he  had  impressed 
himself  with  the  belief  that  he  was  a  great  com 
mander.  Partly  on  this  ground,  and  partly 
apparently  as  a  result  of  general  ' '  incompatibility 
of  temper,"  Davis  managed  to  quarrel  at  different 
times  during  the  War  with  some  of  the  generals 
who  had  shown  themselves  the  most  capable  and 
the  most  serviceable.  He  would  probably  have 
quarrelled  with  Lee,  if  it  had  been  possible  for  any 
one  to  make  quarrel  relations  with  that  fine- 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  189 

natured  gentleman,  and  if  Lee  had  not  been  too 
strongly  entrenched  in  the  hearts  of  his  country 
men  to  make  any  interference  with  him  unwise, 
even  for  the  President.  Davis  had,  however, 
managed  to  interfere  very  seriously  with  the 
operations  of  men  like  Beauregard,  Sidney  John 
son,  Joseph  Johnston,  and  other  commanders 
whose  continued  leadership  was  most  important 
for  the  Confederacy.  It  was  the  obstinacy  of 
Davis  that  had  protracted  the  War  through  the 
winter  and  spring  of  1865,  long  after  it  was  evi 
dent  from  the  reports  of  Lee  and  of  the  other 
commanders  that  the  resources  of  the  Confederacy 
were  exhausted  and  that  any  further  struggle 
simply  meant  an  inexcusable  loss  of  life  on  both 
sides.  As  a  Northern  soldier  who  has  had  experi 
ence  in  Southern  prisons,  I  may  be  excused  also 
from  bearing  in  mind  the  fearful  responsibility  that 
rests  upon  Davis  for  the  mismanagement  of  those 
prisons,  a  mismanagement  which  caused  the  death 
of  thousands  of  brave  men  on  the  frozen  slopes 
of  Belle  Isle,  on  the  foul  floors  of  Libby  and 
Danville,  and  on  the  rotten  ground  used  for  three 
years  as  a  living  place  and  as  a  dying  place  within 
the  stockade  at  Andersonville.  Davis  received 
from  month  to  month  the  reports  of  the  condi 
tions  in  these  and  in  the  other  prisons  of  the  Con- 


1 90  Abraham  Lincoln 

federacy.  Davis  could  not  have  been  unaware 
of  the  stupidity  and  the  brutality  of  keeping 
prisoners  in  Richmond  during  the  last  winter  of  the 
War  when  the  lines  of  road  still  open  were  abso 
lutely  inadequate  to  supply  the  troops  in  the 
trenches  or  the  people  of  the  town.  Reports 
were  brought  to  Davis  more  than  once  from  Ander- 
sonville  showing  that  a  large  portion  of  the  deaths 
that  were  there  occurring  were  due  to  the  vile 
and  rotten  condition  of  the  hollow  in  which  for 
years  prisoners  had  been  huddled  together;  but 
the  appeal  made  to  Richmond  for  permission  to 
move  the  stockade  to  a  clean  and  dry  slope  was 
put  to  one  side  as  a  matter  of  no  importance. 
The  entire  authority  in  the  matter  was  in  the 
hands  of  Davis  and  a  word  from  him  would  have 
remedied  some  of  the  worst  conditions.  He  must 
share  with  General  Winder,  the  immediate  super 
intendent  of  the  prisons,  the  responsibility  for  the 
heedless  and  brutal  mismanagement, — a  misman 
agement  which  brought  death  to  thousands  and 
which  left  thousands  of  others  cripples  for  life. 

As  a  result  of  the  informal  word  given  by  Lin 
coln,  it  was  generally  understood,  by  all  the 
officers,  at  least,  in  charge  of  posts  and  picket 
lines  along  the  eastern  slope,  that  Davis  was  not 
to  be  captured.  Unfortunately  it  had  not  proved 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  191 

possible  to  get  this  informal  expression  of  a  very 
important  piece  of  policy  conveyed  throughout 
the  lines  farther  west.  An  enterprising  and  over- 
zealous  captain  of  cavalry,  riding  across  from  the 
Mississippi  to  the  coast,  heard  of  Davis's  party  in 
Florida  and,  "  butting  in,"  captured,  on  May  loth, 
"the  white  elephant." 

The  last  commands  of  the  Confederate  army 
were  surrendered  with  General  Taylor  in  Louisiana 
on  the  4th  of  May  and  with  Kirby  Smith  in  Texas 
on  the  26th  of  May.  As  Lincoln  had  fore 
shadowed,  not  a  few  complications  resulted  from 
this  unfortunate  capture  of  Davis,  complications 
that  were  needlessly  added  to  by  the  lack  of 
clear-headedness  or  of  definite  policy  on  the  part 
of  a  confused  and  vacillating  President.  During 
the  months  in  which  Davis  was  a  prisoner  at 
Fortress  Monroe,  and  while  the  question  of  his 
trial  for  treason  was  being  fiercely  debated  in 
Washington,  the  sentiment  of  the  Confederacy 
naturally  concentrated  upon  its  late  President. 
He  was,  as  the  single  prisoner,  the  surviving  em 
blem  of  the  contest.  His  vanities,  irritability, 
and  blunders  were  forgotten.  It  was  natural 
that,  under  the  circumstances,  his  people,  the 
people  of  the  South,  should  hold  in  memory  only 
the  fact  that  he  had  been  their  leader  and  that 


192  Abraham  Lincoln 

he  had  through  four  strenuous  years  borne  the 
burdens  of  leadership  with  unflagging  zeal,  with 
persistent  courage,  and  with  an  almost  foolhardy 
hopefulness.  He  had  given  to  the  Confederacy 
the  best  of  his  life,  and  he  was  entitled  to  the 
adoration  that  the  survivors  of  the  Confederacy 
gave  to  him  as  representing  the  ideal  of  the  lost 
cause. 

The  feeling  with  which  Lincoln  was  regarded 
by  the  men  in  the  front,  for  whom  through  the 
early  years  of  their  campaigning  he  had  been  not 
only  the  leader  but  the  inspiration,  was  indicated 
by  the  manner  in  which  the  news  of  his  death  was 
received.  I  happened  myself  on  the  day  of  those 
sad  tidings  to  be  with  my  division  in  a  little 
village  just  outside  of  Goldsborough,  North 
Carolina.  We  had  no  telegraphic  communication 
with  the  North,  but  were  accustomed  to  receive 
despatches  about  noon  each  day,  carried  across 
the  swamps  from  a  station  through  which  con 
nection  was  made  with  Wilmington  and  the  North. 
In  the  course  of  the  morning,  I  had  gone  to  the 
shanty  of  an  old  darky  whom  I  had  come  to  know 
during  the  days  of  our  sojourn,  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  a  shave.  The  old  fellow  took  up  his 
razor,  put  it  down  again  and  then  again  lifted  £~ 
up,  but  his  arm  was  shaking  and  I  saw  that  ha  was 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  193 

so  agitated  that  he  was  not  fitted  for  the  task. 
' '  Massa, ' '  he  said, ' '  I  can't  shave  yer  this  mornin'. ' ' 
4 'What  is  the  matter?"  I  inquired.  "Well," 
he  replied,  "somethin's  happened  to  Massa 
Linkum."  "Why!"  said  I,  " nothing  has  hap 
pened  to  Lincoln.  I  know  what  there  is  to  be 
known.  What  are  you  talking  about  ? "  "  Well ! ' ' 
the  old  man  replied  with  a  half  sob,  "we  coloured 
folks — we  get  news  or  we  get  half  news  sooner 
than  you-uns.  I  dun  know  jes'  what  it  is,  but 
somethin'  has  gone  wrong  with  Massa  Linkum." 
I  could  get  nothing  more  out  of  the  old  man, 
but  I  was  sufficiently  anxious  to  make  my  way  to 
Division  headquarters  to  see  if  there  was  any 
news  in  advance  of  the  arrival  of  the  regular 
courier.  The  coloured  folks  were  standing  in  little 
groups  along  the  village  street,  murmuring  to 
each  other  or  waiting  with  anxious  faces  for  the 
bad  news  that  they  were  sure  was  coming.  I 
found  the  brigade  adjutant  and  those  with  him 
were  puzzled  like  myself  at  the  troubled  minds  of 
the  darkies,  but  still  sceptical  as  to  the  possibility 
of  any  information  having  reached  them  which 
was  not  known  through  the  regular  channels. 

At   noon,    the   courier   made   his   appearance 
riding  by  the  wood  lane  across  the  fields ;  and  the 
instant  he  was  seen  we  all  realised  that  there  was 
13 


194  Abraham  Lincoln 

bad  news.  The  man  was  hurrying  his  pony  and 
yet  seemed  to  be  very  unwilling  to  reach  the  lines 
where  his  report  must  be  made.  In  this  instance 
(as  was,  of  course,  not  usually  the  case)  the  courier 
knew  what  was  in  his  despatches.  The  Division 
Adjutant  stepped  out  on  the  porch  of  the  head 
quarters  with  the  paper  in  his  hand,  but  he  broke 
down  before  he  could  begin  to  read.  The  Di 
vision  Commander  took  the  word  and  was  able 
simply  to  announce:  "Lincoln  is  dead."  The 
word  "President"  was  not  necessary  and  he 
sought  in  fact  for  the  shortest  word.  I  never  be 
fore  had  found  myself  in  a  mass  of  men  overcome 
by  emotion.  Ten  thousand  soldiers  were  sobbing 
together.  No  survivor  of  the  group  can  recall  the 
sadness  of  that  morning  without  again  being 
touched  by  the  wave  of  emotion  which  broke 
down  the  reserve  and  control  of  these  war-worn 
veterans  on  learning  that  their  great  captain 
was  dead. 

The  whole  people  had  come  to  have  with  the 
President  a  relation  similar  to  that  which  had 
grown  up  between  the  soldiers  and  their  Com 
mander-in-chief.  With  the  sympathy  and  love  of 
the  people  to  sustain  him,  Lincoln  had  over  them 
an  almost  unlimited  influence.  His  capacity  for 
toil,  his  sublime  patience,  his  wonderful  endur- 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  195 

ance,  his  great  mind  and  heart,  his  out-reaching 
sympathies,  his  thoughtfulness  for  the  needs  and 
requirements  of  all,  had  bound  him  to  his  fellow- 
citizens  by  an  attachment  of  genuine  sentiment. 
His  appellation  throughout  the  country  had  dur 
ing  the  last  year  of  the  war  become  "Father  Abra 
ham.  "  We  may  recall  in  the  thought  of  this 
relation  to  the  people  the  record  of  Washington. 
The  first  President  has  come  into  history  as  the 
"Father  of  his  Country,"  but  for  Washington  this 
role  of  father  is  something  of  historic  develop 
ment.  During  Washington's  lifetime,  or  certainly 
at  least  during  the  years  of  his  responsibilities 
as  General  and  as  President,  there  was  no  such 
general  recognition  of  the  leader  and  ruler  as 
the  father  of  his  country.  He  was  dear  to  a 
small  circle  of  intimates ;  he  was  held  in  respectful 
regard  by  a  larger  number  of  those  with  whom 
were  carried  on  his  responsibilities  in  the  army, 
and  later  in  the  nation's  government.  To  many 
good  Americans,  however,  Washington  represented 
for  years  an  antagonistic  principle  of  government. 
He  was  regarded  as  an  aristocrat  and  there  were 
not  a  few  political  leaders,  with  groups  of  voters 
behind  them,  who  dreaded,  and  doubtless  hon 
estly  dreaded,  that  the  influence  of  Washington 
might  be  utilised  to  build  up  in  this  country 


196  Abraham  Lincoln 

some  fresh  form  of  the  monarchy  that  had  been 
overthrown.  The  years  of  the  Presidency  had 
to  be  completed  and  the  bitter  antagonisms  of  the 
seven  years'  fighting  and  of  the  issues  of  the 
Constitution-building  had  to  be  outgrown,  before 
the  people  were  able  to  recognise  as  a  whole  the 
perfect  integrity  of  purpose  and  consistency  of 
action  of  their  great  leader,  the  first  President. 
Even  then  when  the  animosities  and  suspicions 
had  died  away,  while  the  people  were  ready  to 
honour  the  high  character  and  the  accomplish 
ments  of  Washington,  the  feeling  was  one  of 
reverence  rather  than  of  affection.  This  sentiment 
gave  rise  later  to  the  title  of  the  "Father  of  his 
Country";  but  there  was  no  such  personal  feeling 
towards  Washington  as  warranted,  at  least 
during  his  life,  the  term  father  of  the  people. 
Thirty  years  later,  the  ruler  of  the  nation  is 
Andrew  Jackson,  a  man  who  was,  like  Lincoln, 
eminently  a  representative  of  the  common  people. 
His  fellow-citizens  knew  that  Jackson  under 
stood  their  feelings  and  their  methods  and  were 
ready  to  have  full  confidence  in  Jackson's  pa 
triotism  and  honesty  of  purpose.  His  nature 
lacked,  however,  the  sweet  sympathetic  qualities 
that  characterised  Lincoln;  and  while  to  a  large 
body  of  his  fellow-citizens  he  commended  himself 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  19? 

for  sturdiness,  courage,  and  devotion  to  the 
interests  of  the  state,  he  was  never  able  for  him 
self  to  overcome  the  feeling  that  a  man  who 
failed  to  agree  with  a  Jackson  policy  must  be 
either  a  knave  or  a  fool.  He  could  not  place 
himself  in  the  position  from  which  the  other  fellow 
was  thinking  or  acting.  He  believed  that  it  was 
his  duty  to  maintain  what  he  held  to  be  the  popular 
cause  against  the  "schemes  of  the  aristocrats," 
the  bugbear  of  that  day.  He  was  a  fighter  from 
his  youth  up  and  his  theory  of  government  was 
that  of  enforcing  the  control  of  the  side  for  which 
he  was  the  partisan.  Such  a  man  could  never 
be  accepted  as  the  father  of  the  people. 

Lincoln,  coming  from  those  whom  he  called  the 
common  people,  feeling  with  their  feelings,  sym 
pathetic  with  their  needs  and  ideals,  was  able  in 
the  development  of  his  powers  to  be  accepted  as 
the  peer  of  the  largest  intellects  in  the  land.  While 
knowing  what  was  needed  by  the  poor  whites  of 
Kentucky,  he  could  understand  also  the  point 
of  view  of  Boston,  New  York,  or  Philadelphia. 
In  place  of  emphasising  antagonisms,  he  held  con 
sistently  that  the  highest  interest  of  one  section 
of  the  country  must  be  the  real  interest  of  the 
whole  people,  and  that  the  ruler  of  the  nation  had 
upon  him  the  responsibility  of  so  shaping  the 


Abraham  Lincoln 


national  policy  that  all  the  people  should  recognise 
the  government  as  their  government.  It  was 
this  large  understanding  and  width  of  sympathy 
that  made  Lincoln  in  a  sense  which  could  be 
applied  to  no  other  ruler  of  this  country,  the 
people's  President,  and  no  other  ruler  in  the 
world  has  ever  been  so  sympathetically,  so  ef 
fectively  in  touch  with  all  of  the  fellow-citizens 
for  whose  welfare  he  made  himself  responsible. 
The  Latin  writer,  Aulus  Gellius,  uses  for  one  of  his 
heroes  the  term  "a  classic  character."  These 
words  seem  to  me  fairly  to  apply  to  Abraham 
Lincoln. 

An  appreciative  Englishman,  writing  in  the 
London  Nation  at  the  time  of  the  Centennial 
commemoration,  says  of  Lincoln: 

The  greatness  of  Lincoln  was  that  of  a  common 
man  raised  to  a  high  dimension.  The  possibility, 
still  more  the  existence,  of  such  a  man  is  itselt  a 
justification  of  democracy.  We  do  not  say  that  so 
independent,  so  natural,  so  complete  a  man  cannot 
in  older  societies  come  to  wield  so  large  a  power  over 
the  affairs  and  the  minds  of  men;  we  can  only  say 
that  amid  all  the  stirring  movements  of  the  nine 
teenth  century  he  has  not  so  done.  The  existence 
of  what  may  be  called  a  widespread  commonalty 
explains  the  rarity  of  personal  eminence  in  America. 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  199 

There  has  been  and  still  remains  a  higher  general 
level  of  personality  than  in  any  European  country, 
and  the  degree  of  eminence  is  correspondingly  re 
duced.  It  is  just  because  America  has  stood  for 
opportunity  that  conspicuous  individuals  have  been 
comparatively  rare.  Strong  personality,  however, 
has  not  been  rare;  it  is  the  abundance  of  such  per 
sonality  that  has  built  up  silently  into  the  rising 
fabric  of  the  American  Commonwealth,  pioneers, 
roadmakers,  traders,  lawyers,  soldiers,  teachers, 
toiling  terribly  over  the  material  and  moral  founda 
tion  of  the  country,  few  of  whose  names  have  emerged 
or  survived.  Lincoln  was  of  this  stock,  was  reared 
among  these  rude  energetic  folk,  had  lived  all  those 
sorts  of  lives.  He  was  no  "sport";  his  career  is  a 
triumphant  refutation  of  the  traditional  views 
of  genius.  He  had  no  special  gift  or  quality  to  dis 
tinguish  him;  he  was  simply  the  best  type  of  American 
at  a  historic  juncture  when  the  national  safety 
wanted  such  a  man.  The  confidence  which  all  Ameri 
cans  express  that  their  country  will  be  equal  to  any 
emergency  which  may  threaten  it,  is  not  so  entirely 
superstitious  as  it  seems  at  first  sight.  For  the 
career  of  Lincoln  shows  how  it  has  been  done  in  a 
country  where  the  "  necessary  man"  can  be  drawn  not 
from  a  few  leading  families,  or  an  educated  class,  but 
from  the  millions. 

Rabbi  Schechter,  in  an  eloquent  address  de- 


200  Abraham  Lincoln 

livered  at  the  Centennial  celebration,  speaks  of 
Lincoln's  personality  as  follows: 

The  half  century  that  has  elapsed  since  Lincoln's 
death  has  dispelled  the  mists  that  encompassed  him 
on  earth.  Men  now  not  only  recognise  the  right 
which  he  championed,  but  behold  in  him  the  standard 
of  righteousness,  of  liberty,  of  conciliation,  and  truth. 
In  him,  as  it  were  personified,  stands  the  Union,  all 
that  is  best  and  noblest  and  enduring  in  its  principles 
in  which  he  devoutly  believed  and  served  mightily  to 
save.  When  to-day,  the  world  celebrates  the  cen 
tury  of  his  existence,  he  has  become  the  ideal  of  both 
North  and  South,  of  a  common  country,  composed 
not  only  of  the  factions  that  once  confronted  each 
other  in  war's  dreadful  array,  but  of  the  myriad 
thousands  that  have  since  found  in  the  American 
nation  the  hope  of  the  future  and  the  refuge  from 
age-entrenched  wrong  and  absolutism.  To  them, 
Lincoln,  his  life,  his  history,  his  character,  his  entire 
personality,  with  all  its  wondrous  charm  and  grace, 
its  sobriety,  patience,  self-abnegation,  and  sweet 
ness,  has  come  to  be  the  very  prototype  of  a  rising 
humanity. 

Carl  Schurz,  himself  a  man  of  large  nature  and 
wide  and  sympathetic  comprehension,  says  of 
Lincoln : 

In   the   most  conspicuous  position  of  the  period, 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  201 

Lincoln  drew  upon  himself  the  scoffs  of  polite  society; 
but  even  then  he  filled  the  souls  of  mankind  with 
utterances  of  wonderful  beauty  and  grandeur.  It 
was  distinctly  the  weird  mixture  in  him  of  qualities 
and  forces,  of  the  lofty  with  the  common,  the  ideal 
with  the  uncouth,  of  that  which  he  had  become  with 
that  which  he  had  not  ceased  to  be,  that  made  him  so 
fascinating  a  character  among  his  fellow-men,  that 
gave  him  his  singular  power  over  minds  and  hearts, 
that  fitted  him  to  be  the  greatest  leader  in  the  greatest 
crisis  of  our  national  life. 

He  possessed  the  courage  to  stand  alone — that 
courage  which  is  the  first  requisite  of  leadership  in  a 
great  cause.  The  charm  of  Lincoln's  oratory  flooded 
all  the  rare  depth  and  genuineness  of  his  convictions 
and  his  sympathetic  feelings  were  the  strongest 
element  in  his  nature.  He  was  one  of  the  greatest 
Americans  and  the  best  of  men. 

The  poet  Whittier  writes : 

The  weary  form  that  rested  not 
Save  in  a  martyr's  grave; 
The  care-worn  face  that  none  forgot, 
Turned  to  the  kneeling  slave. 

We  rest  in  peace  where  his  sad  eyes 
Saw  peril,  strife,  and  pain; 
His  was  the  awful  sacrifice, 
And  ours  the  priceless  gain. 


202  Abraham  Lincoln 

Says  Bryant: 

That  task  is  done,  the  bound  are  free, 
We  bear  thee  to  an  honoured  grave, 
Whose  noblest  monument  shall  be 
The  broken  fetters  of  the  slave. 

Pure  was  thy  life;  its  bloody  close 
Hath  blessed  thee  with  the  sons  of  light, 
Among  the  noble  host  of  those 
Who  perished  in  the  cause  of  right. 

Says  Lowell: 

Our  children  shall  behold  his  fame, 
The  kindly-earnest,  brave,  foreseeing  man, 
Sagacious,  patient,  dreading  praise,  not  blame; 
New  birth  of  our  new  soil,  the  first  American. 

Ordinary  men  die  when  their  physical  life  is 
brought  to  a  close,  if  perhaps  not  at  once,  yet  in  a 
brief  space,  with  the  passing  of  the  little  circle 
of  those  to  whom  they  were  dear. 

The  man  of  distinction  lives  for  a  time  after 
death.  His  achievements  and  his  character  are 
held  in  appreciative  remembrance  by  the  com 
munity  and  the  generation  he  has  served.  The 
waves  of  his  influence  ripple  out  in  a  somewhat 
wider  circle  before  being  lost  in  the  ocean  of  time. 
We  call  that  man  great  to  whom  it  is  given  so  to 


Lincoln's  Task  Ended  203 

impress  himself  upon  his  fellow-men  by  deed,  by 
creation,  by  service  to  the  community,  by  char 
acter,  by  the  inspiration  from  on  high  that  has 
been  breathed  through  his  soul,  that  he  is  not 
permitted  to  die.  Such  a  man  secures  immor 
tality  in  this  world.  The  knowledge  and  the 
influence  of  his  life  are  extended  throughout 
mankind  and  his  memory  gathers  increasing  fame 
from  generation  to  generation. 

It  is  thus  that  men  are  to-day  honouring  the 
memory  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  To-day,  one  hun 
dred  years  after  his  birth,  and  nearly  half  a 
century  since  the  dramatic  close  of  his  life's  work, 
Lincoln  stands  enshrined  in  the  thought  and  in 
the  hearts  of  his  countrymen.  He  is  our  "  Father 
Abraham/*  belonging  to  us,  his  fellow-citizens, 
for  ideals,  for  inspiration,  and  for  affectionate 
regard;  but  he  belongs  now  also  to  all  mankind, 
for  he  has  been  canonised  among  the  noblest  of 
the  world's  heroes. 


APPENDIX 

THE  ADDRESS  OF  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN 

Delivered  at  Cooper  Institute,   New  York, 
February  27,   1860. 

With  Introduction  by  Charles  C.  Nott;  Historical 
and  Analytical  Notes  by  Charles  C.  Nott  and  Cephas 
Brainerd,  and  with  the  Correspondence  between  Mr. 
Lincoln  and  Mr.  Nott  as  Representative  of  the 
Committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Republican  Union. 


205 


INTRODUCTORY  NOTE 

THE  address  delivered  by  Lincoln  at  the  Cooper 
Institute  in  February,  1860,  in  response  to  the 
invitation  of  certain  representative  New  Yorkers, 
was,  as  well  in  its  character  as  in  its  results,  the 
most  important  of  all  of  his  utterances. 

The  conscientious  study  of  the  historical  and  con 
stitutional  record,  and  the  arguments  and  conclusions 
based  upon  the  analysis  of  this  record,  were  accepted 
by  the  Republican  leaders  as  constituting  the  prin 
ciples  and  the  policy  to  be  maintained  during  the 
Presidential  campaign  of  1860,  a  campaign  in  which 
was  involved  not  merely  the  election  of  a  President, 
but  the  continued  existence  of  the  republic. 

Under  the  wise  counsels  represented  by  the  words 
of  Lincoln,  the  election  was  fought  out  substantially 
on  two  contentions: 

First,  that  the  compact  entered  into  by  the  Fathers 
and  by  their  immediate  successors  should  be  loyally 
carried  out,  and  that  slavery  should  not  be  interfered 
with  in  the  original  slave  States,  or  in  the  additional 
territory  that  had  been  conceded  to  it  under  the 
Missouri  Compromise;  and,  secondly,  that  not  a  single 

further  square  mile  of  soil,  that  was  still  free,  should 

207 


208  Appendix 

be  left  available,  or  should  be  made  available,  for 
the  incursion  of  slavery. 

It  was  the  conviction  of  Lincoln  and  of  his  asso 
ciates,  as  it  had  been  the  conviction  of  the  Fathers, 
that  under  such  a  restriction  slavery  must  certainly 
in  the  near  future  come  to  an  end.  It  was  because 
these  convictions,  both  in  the  debates  with  Douglas 
and  in  the  Cooper  Institute  speech,  were  presented 
by  Lincoln  more  forcibly  and  more  conclusively  than 
had  been  done  by  any  other  political  leader,  that 
Lincoln  secured  the  nomination  and  the  presidency. 
The  February  address  was  assuredly  a  deciding  factor 
in  the  great  issue  of  the  time,  and  it  certainly  belongs, 
therefore,  with  the  historic  documents  of  the  republic. 

G.  H.  P. 

NEW  YORK,  September  i,  1909. 


CORRESPONDENCE  WITH  LINCOLN,  NOTT, 
AND  BRAINERD 

(From  Robert  Lincoln) 

MANCHESTER,  VERMONT, 

July  27,  1909. 
DEAR  MAJOR  PUTNAM: 

Your  letter  of  July  23rd  reaches  me  here,  and  I 
beg  to  express  my  thanks  for  your  kind  remem 
brances  of  me  in  London.  ...  I  am  much  interested 
in  learning  that  you  were  present  at  the  time  my 
father  made  his  speech  at  Cooper  Institute.  I,  of 
course,  remember  the  occasion  very  well,  although 
I  was  not  present.  I  was  at  that  time  in  the  middle 
of  my  year  at  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  preparing 
for  the  Harvard  entrance  examination  of  the  summer 
of  1860.  .  .  .  After  the  Cooper  Institute  address, 
my  father  came  to  Exeter  to  see  how  I  was  getting 
along,  and  this  visit  resulted  in  his  making  a  number 
of  speeches  in  New  England  on  his  way  and  on  his 
return,  and  at  Exeter  he  wrote  to  my  mother  a  letter 
which  was  mainly  concerned  with  me,  but  which  did 
make  reference  to  these  speeches.  .  .  .  He  said  that 
he  had  had  some  embarrassment  with  these  New 

England  speeches,  because  in  coming  East  he  had 

209 


210  Appendix 

anticipated  making  no  speech  excepting  the  one  at 
the  Cooper  Institute,  and  he  had  not  prepared  him 
self  for  anything  else.  ...  In  the  later  speeches, 
he  was  addressing  reading  audiences  who  had,  as 
he  thought  probable,  seen  the  report  of  his  Cooper 
Institute  speech,  and  he  was  obliged,  therefore,  from 
day  to  day  (he  made  about  a  dozen  speeches  in  New 
England  in  all)  to  bear  that  fact  in  mind. 

Sincerely  yours, 

ROBERT  LINCOLN. 

(From  Judge  Nott) 

WlLLIAMSTOWN,  MASS., 

July  26,  1909. 
DEAR  PUTNAM: 

I  consider  it  very  desirable  that  the  report  of 
Mr.  Lincoln's  speech,  embodying  the  final  revision, 
should  be  preserved  in  book  form.  .  .  .  The  text 
in  the  pamphlet  now  in  your  hands  is  authentic 
and  conclusive.  Mr.  Lincoln  read  the  proof  both 
of  the  address  and  of  the  notes.  I  am  glad  that 
you  are  to  include  in  your  reprint  the  letters  from 
Mr.  Lincoln,  as  these  letters  authenticate  this  copy 
of  the  address  as  the  copy  which  was  corrected  by 
him  with  his  own  hand.  .  .  . 

The  preface  to  the  address,  written  in  September, 
1860,  has  interest  because  it  shows  what  we  thought 
of  the  address  at  that  time.  .  .  .  Your  worthy 


Correspondence  211 

father  was,  if  I  remember  rightly,  one  of  the  vice- 
presidents  of  the  meeting.  .  .  . 

Yours  faithfully, 

CHARLES  C.  NOTT. 

(From  Cephas  Brainerd) 

NEW  YORK,  August  18,  1909. 
DEAR  MAJOR  PUTNAM: 

I  am  very  glad  to  learn  that  there  is  good  prospect 
that  the  real  Lincoln  Cooper  Institute  address,  with 
the  evidence  in  regard  to  it,  will  now  be  available 
for  the  public.  ...  I  am  glad  also  that  with  the 
address  you  are  proposing  to  print  the  letters  received 
by  Judge  Nott  from  Mr.  Lincoln.  One  or  two  of 
these  have,  unfortunately,  not  been  preserved.  I 
recall  in  one  an  observation  made  by  Lincoln  to  the 
effect  that  he  "was  not  much  of  a  literary  man." 

I  did  not  see  much  of  Mr.  Lincoln  when  he  was 
in  New  York,  as  my  most  active  responsibility  in 
regard  to  the  meeting  was  in  getting  up  an  audience. 
...  I  remember  in  handing  some  weeks  earlier  to 
John  Sherman,  who,  like  Lincoln,  had  never  before 
spoken  in  New  York,  five  ten-dollar  gold  pieces, 
that  he  said  he  "  had  not  expected  his  expenses  to 
be  paid."  At  a  lunch  that  was  given  to  Sherman 
a  long  time  afterward,  I  referred  to  that  meeting. 
Sherman  cocked  his  eye  at  me  and  said:  "Yes,  I 
remember  it  very  well;  I  never  was  so  scar't  in  all 
my  life."  .  .  . 


212  Appendix 

The  observations  of  Judge  Nott  in  regard  to  the 
meeting  are  about  as  just  as  anything  that  has  ever 
been  put  into  print,  and  as  I  concur  fully  in  the 
accuracy  of  these  recollections,  I  do  not  undertake 
to  give  my  own  impressions  at  any  length.  I  was 
expecting  to  hear  some  specimen  of  Western  stump- 
speaking  as  it  was  then  understood.  You  will,  of 
course,  observe  that  the  speech  contains  nothing  of 
the  kind.  I  do  remember,  however,  that  Lincoln 
spoke  of  the  condition  of  feeling  between  the  North 
and  the  South.  .  .  .  He  refers  to  the  treatment 
which  Northern  men  received  in  the  South,  and  he 
remarked,  parenthetically,  that  he  had  never  known 
of  a  man  who  had  been  able  "  to  whip  his  wife  into 
loving  him,"  an  observation  that  produced  laughter. 

In  making  up  the  notes,  we  ransacked,  as  you  may 
be  sure,  all  the  material  available  in  the  libraries 
in  New  York,  and  I  also  had  interviews  as  to  one 
special  point  with  Mr.  Bancroft,  with  Mr.  Hildreth, 
and  with  Dr.  William  Goodell,  who  was  in  those 
times  a  famous  anti-slavery  man. 

Your  father1  and  William  Curtis  Noyes  were  pos 
sibly  more  completely  in  sympathy  than  any  other 
two  men  in  New  York,  with  the  efforts  of  these 
younger  men;  they  impressed  me  as  standing  in  that 
respect  on  the  same  plane.  The  next  man  to  them 
was  Charles  Wyllis  Elliott,  the  author  of  a  History 
of  New  England.  We  never  went  to  your  father 

i  The  late  George  Palmer  Putnam. 


Correspondence  213 

for  advice  or  assistance  when  he  failed  to  help  us, 
and  he  was  always  so  kindly  and  gentle  in  what 
he  did  and  said  that  every  one  of  us  youngsters 
acquired  for  him  a  very  great  affection.  He  always 
had  time  to  see  us  and  was  always  on  hand  when 
he  was  wanted,  and  if  we  desired  to  have  anything, 
we  got  it  if  he  had  it.  Neither  your  father,  nor 
Mr.  Noyes,  nor  for  that  matter  Mr.  Elliott,  ever 
suggested  that  we  were  "young"  or  "fresh"  or 
anything  of  that  sort.  The  enthusiasm  which  young 
fellows  have  was  always  recognised  by  these  men 
as  an  exceedingly  valuable  asset  in  the  cause.  .  .  . 
Pardon  all  this  from  a  "veteran,"  and  believe  me, 
Sincerely  yours, 

CEPHAS  BRAINERD. 


INTRODUCTION 
BY  CHARLES  C.  NOTT 

THE  Cooper  Institute  address  is  one  of  the  most 
important  addresses  ever  delivered  in  the  life  of  this 
nation,  for  at  an  eventful  time  it  changed  the  course 
of  history.  When  Mr.  Lincoln  rose  to  speak  on  the 
evening  of  February  27,  1860,  he  had  held  no  admin 
istrative  office ;  he  had  endeavoured  to  be  appointed 
Commissioner  of  Patents,  and  had  failed;  he  had 
sought  to  be  elected  United  States  Senator,  and 
had  been  defeated;  he  had  been  a  member  of  Con 
gress,  yet  it  was  not  even  remembered;  he  was  a 
lawyer  in  humble  circumstances,  persuasive  of  juries, 
but  had  not  reached  the  front  rank  of  the  Illinois 
Bar.  The  record  which  Mr.  Lincoln  himself  placed 
in  the  Congressional  Directory  in  1847  might  still 
be  taken  as  the  record  of  his  public  and  official  life: 
"  Born  February  i2th,  1809,  in  Hardin  County,  Ken 
tucky.  Education  defective.  Profession  a  lawyer. 
Have  been  a  captain  of  volunteers  in  the  Black  Hawk 
War.  Postmaster  in  a  very  small  office.  Four  times 
a  member  of  the  Illinois  Legislature  and  a  member 
of  the  lower  house  of  Congress."  Was  this  the 

record  of  a  man  who  should  be  made  the  head  of  a 

215 


216  Appendix 

nation  in  troubled  times?  In  the  estimation  of 
thoughtful  Americans  east  of  the  Alleghanies  all 
that  they  knew  of  Mr.  Lincoln  justified  them  in 
regarding  him  as  only  "a  Western  stump  orator" — 
successful,  distinguished,  but  nothing  higher  than 
that — a  Western  stump  orator,  who  had  dared  to 
brave  one  of  the  strongest  men  in  the  Western  States, 
and  who  had  done  so  with  wonderful  ability  and 
moral  success.  When  Mr.  Lincoln  closed  his  address 
he  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  statesman,  and  had 
stamped  himself  a  statesman  peculiarly  fitted  for 
the  exigency  of  the  hour. 

Mr.  William  Cullen  Bryant  presided  at  the  meeting; 
and  a  number  of  the  first  and  ablest  citizens  of  New 
York  were  present,  among  them  Horace  Greeley. 
Mr.  Greeley  was  pronounced  in  his  appreciation  of 
the  address;  it  was  the  ablest,  the  greatest,  the  wisest 
speech  that  had  yet  been  made;  it  would  reassure 
the  conservative  Northerner;  it  was  just  what  was 
wanted  to  conciliate  the  excited  Southerner;  it  was 
conclusive  in  its  argument,  and  would  assure  the 
overthrow  of  Douglas.  Mr.  Horace  White  has  re 
cently  written:  "I  chanced  to  open  the  other  day 
his  Cooper  Institute  speech.  This  is  one  of  the  few 
printed  speeches  that  I  did  not  hear  him  deliver  in 
person.  As  I  read  the  concluding  pages  of  that 
speech,  the  conflict  of  opinion  that  preceded  the 
conflict  of  arms  then  sweeping  upon  the  country 
like  an  approaching  solar  eclipse  seemed  prefigured 


Introduction  217 

like  a  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Fate.  Here  again  he 
was  the  Old  Testament  prophet,  before  whom  Horace 
Greeley  bowed  his  head,  saying  that  he  had  never 
listened  to  a  greater  speech,  although  he  had  heard 
several  of  Webster's  best."  Later,  Mr.  Greeley  be 
came  the  leader  of  the  Republican  forces  opposed 
to  the  nomination  of  Mr.  Seward  and  was  instru 
mental  in  concentrating  those  forces  upon  Mr. Lincoln. 
Furthermore,  the  great  New  York  press  on  the  fol 
lowing  morning  carried  the  address  to  the  country, 
and  before  Mr.  Lincoln  left  New  York  he  was  tele 
graphed  from  Connecticut  to  come  and  aid  in  the 
campaign  of  the  approaching  spring  election.  He 
went,  and  when  the  fateful  moment  came  in  the 
Convention,  Connecticut  was  one  of  the  Eastern 
States  which  first  broke  away  from  the  Seward 
column  and  went  over  to  Mr.  Lincoln.  When  Con 
necticut  did  this,  the  die  was  cast. 

It  is  difficult  for  younger  generations  of  Americans 
to  believe  that  three  months  before  Mr.  Lincoln  was 
nominated  for  the  Presidency  he  was  neither  appre 
ciated  nor  known  in  New  York.  That  fact  can  be 
better  established  by  a  single  incident  than  by  the 
opinions  and  assurances  of  a  dozen  men. 

After  the  address  had  been  delivered,  Mr.  Lincoln 
was  taken  by  two  members  of  the  Young  Men's 
Central  Republican  Union — Mr.  Hiram  Barney, 
afterward  Collector  of  the  Port  of  New  York,  and 
Mr.  Nott,  one  of  the  subsequent  editors  of  the  ad- 


218  Appendix 

dress — to  their  club,  The  Athenaeum,  where  a  very 
simple  supper  was  ordered,  and  five  or  six  Repub 
lican  members  of  the  club  who  chanced  to  be  in 
the  building  were  invited  in.  The  supper  was  in 
formal — as  informal  as  anything  could  be;  the  con 
versation  was  easy  and  familiar;  the  prospects  of 
the  Republican  party  in  the  coming  struggle  were 
talked  over,  and  so  little  was  it  supposed  by  the 
gentlemen  who  had  not  heard  the  address  that  Mr. 
Lincoln  could  possibly  be  the  candidate  that  one  of 
them,  Mr.  Charles  W.  Elliott,  asked,  artlessly:  "Mr. 
Lincoln,  what  candidate  do  you  really  think  would  be 
most  likely  to  carry  Illinois?"  Mr.  Lincoln  answered 
by  illustration:  "Illinois  is  a  peculiar  State,  in  three 
parts.  In  northern  Illinois,  Mr.  Seward  would  have  a 
larger  majority  than  I  could  get.  In  middle  Illinois,  I 
think  I  could  call  out  a  larger  vote  than  Mr.  Seward. 
In  southern  Illinois,  it  would  make  no  difference  who 
was  the  candidate."  This  answer  was  taken  to  be 
merely  illustrative  by  everybody  except,  perhaps, 
Mr.  Barney  and  Mr.  Nott,  each  of  whom,  it  subse 
quently  appeared,  had  particularly  noted  Mr.  Lin 
coln's  reply. 

The  little  party  broke  up.  Mr.  Lincoln  had  been 
cordially  received,  but  certainly  had  not  been  flattered. 
The  others  shook  him  by  the  hand  and,  as  they  put  on 
their  overcoats,  said:  "Mr.  Nott  is  going  down  town 
and  he  will  show  you  the  way  to  the  Astor  House. " 
Mr.  Lincoln  and  Mr,  Nott  started  on  foot,  but  the 


Introduction  219 

latter  observing  that  Mr.  Lincoln  was  apparently 
Walking  with  some  difficulty  said,  "Are  you  lame, 
Mr.  Lincoln?"  He  replied  that  he  had  on  new  boots 
and  they  hurt  him.  The  two  gentlemen  then  boarded 
a  street  car.  When  they  reached  the  place  where 
Mr.  Nott  would  leave  the  car  on  his  way  home,  he 
shook  Mr.  Lincoln  by  the  hand  and,  bidding  him 
good-bye,  told  him  that  this  car  would  carry  him  to  the 
side  door  of  the  Astor  House.  Mr.  Lincoln  went  on 
alone,  the  only  occupant  of  the  car.  The  next  time 
he  came  to  New  York,  he  rode  down  Broadway  to  the 
Astor  House  standing  erect  in  an  open  barouche 
drawn  by  four  white  horses.  He  bowed  to  the  patri 
otic  thousands  in  the  street,  on  the  sidewalks,  in  the 
windows,  on  the  house-tops,  and  they  cheered  him  as 
the  lawfully  elected  President  of  the  United  States 
and  bade  him  go  on  and,  with  God's  help,  save  the 
Union. 

His  companion  in  the  street  car  has  often  wondered 
since  then  what  Mr.  Lincoln  thought  about  during 
the  remainder  of  his  ride  that  night  to  the  Astor 
House.  The  Cooper  Institute  had,  owing  to  a  snow 
storm,  not  been  full,  and  its  intelligent,  respect 
able,  non-partisan  audience  had  not  rung  out  enthusi 
astic  applause  like  a  concourse  of  Western  auditors 
magnetised  by  their  own  enthusiasm.  Had  the 
address — the  most  carefully  prepared,  the  most 
elaborately  investigated  and  demonstrated  and 
verified  of  all  the  work  of  his  life — been  a  failure? 


220  Appendix 

But  in  the  matter  of  quality  and  ability,  if  not  of 
quantity  and  enthusiasm,  he  had  never  addressed 
such  an  audience ;  and  some  of  the  ablest  men  in  the 
Northern  States  had  expressed  their  opinion  of  the 
address  in  terms  which  left  no  doubt  of  the  highest 
appreciation.  Did  Mr.  Lincoln  regard  the  address 
which  he  had  just  delivered  to  a  small  and  critical 
audience  as  a  success?  Did  he  have  the  faintest 
glimmer  of  the  brilliant  effect  which  was  to  follow? 
Did  he  feel  the  loneliness  of  the  situation — the 
want  of  his  loyal  Illinois  adherents?  Did  his  sink 
ing  heart  infer  that  he  was  but  a  speck  of  humanity 
to  which  the  great  city  would  never  again  give  a 
thought?  He  was  a  plain  man,  an  ungainly  man; 
unadorned,  apparently  uncultivated,  showing  the 
awkwardness  of  self-conscious  rusticity.  His  dress 
that  night  before  a  New  York  audience  was  the  most 
unbecoming  that  a  fiend's  ingenuity  could  have 
devised  for  a  tall,  gaunt  man — a  black  frock  coat,  ill- 
setting  and  too  short  for  him  in  the  body,  skirt,  and 
arms — a  rolling  collar,  low-down,  disclosing  his  long 
thin,  shrivelled  throat  uncovered  and  exposed. 
No  man  in  all  New  York  appeared  that  night  more 
simple,  more  unassuming,  more  modest,  more  un 
pretentious,  more  conscious  of  his  own  defects  than 
Abraham  Lincoln ;  and  yet  we  now  know  that  within 
his  soul  there  burned  the  fires  of  an  unbounded  am 
bition,  sustained  by  a  self-reliance  and  self-esteem 
that  bade  him  fix  his  gaze  upon  the  very  pinnacle  of 


Introduction  221 

American  fame  and  aspire  to  it  in  a  time  so  troubled 
that  its  dangers  appalled  the  soul  of  every  American. 
What  were  this  man's  thoughts  when  he  was  left 
alone?  Did  a  faint  shadow  of  the  future  rest  upon 
his  soul?  Did  he  feel  in  some  mysterious  way  that 
on  that  night  he  had  crossed  the  Rubicon  of  his  life- 
march — that  care  and  trouble  and  political  discord, 
and  slander  and  misrepresentation  and  ridicule  and 
public  responsibilities,  such  as  hardly  ever  before 
burdened  a  conscientious  soul,  coupled  with  war 
and  defeat  and  disaster,  were  to  be  thenceforth  his 
portion  nearly  to  his  life's  end,  and  that  his  end  was 
to  be  a  bloody  act  which  would  appal  the  world  and 
send  a  thrill  of  horror  through  the  hearts  of  friends 
and  enemies  alike,  so  that  when  the  woeful  tidings 
came  the  bravest  of  the  Southern  brave  should  burst 
into  tears  and  cry  aloud,  "Oh!  the  unhappy  South, 
the  unhappy  South!" 

The  impression  left  on  his  companion's  mind  as  he 
gave  a  last  glance  at  him  in  the  street  car  was  that 
he  seemed  sad  and  lonely;  and  when  it  was  too  late, 
when  the  car  was  beyond  call,  he  blamed  himself 
for  not  accompanying  Mr.  Lincoln  to  the  Astor 
House — not  because  he  was  a  distinguished  stranger, 
but  because  he  seemed  a  sad  and  lonely  man. 

February  12,  ipo8. 


CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   MR.   LINCOLN 

69  WALL  ST.,  NEW  YORK, 

February  9,  1860. 
Dear  Sir: 

The  "Young  Men's  Central  Republican  Union"  of 
this  city  very  cordially  desire  that  you  should  deliver 
during  the  ensuing  month — what  I  may  term — a 
political  lecture.  The  peculiarities  of  the  case  are 
these — A  series  of  lectures  has  been  determined 
upon — The  first  was  delivered  by  Mr.  Blair  of  St. 
Louis  a  short  time  ago — the  second  will  be  in  a  few 
days  by  Mr.  C.  M.  Clay,  and  the  third  we  would 
prefer  to  have  from  you,  rather  than  from  any  other 
person.  Of  the  audience  I  should  add  that  it  is  not 
that  of  an  ordinary  political  meeting.  These  lectures 
have  been  contrived  to  call  out  our  better,  but  busier 
citizens,  who  never  attend  political  meetings.  A 
large  part  of  the  audience  would  also  consist  of 
ladies.  The  time  we  should  prefer,  would  be  about 
the  middle  of  March,  but  if  any  earlier  or  later  day 
will  be  more  convenient  for  you  we  would  alter  our 
arrangements. 

Allow  me  to  hope  that  we  shall  have  the  pleasure  of 

welcoming  you  to  New  York.     You  are,  I  believe. 

223 


224  Appendix 

an  entire  stranger  to  your  Republican  brethren  here; 
but  they  have,  for  you,  the  highest  esteem,  and  your 
celebrated  contest  with  Judge  Douglas  awoke  their 
warmest  sympathy  and  admiration.  Those  of  us 
who  are  "in  the  ranks"  would  regard  your  presence 
as  very  material  aid,  and  as  an  honor  and  pleasure 
which  I  cannot  sufficiently  express. 

Respectfully, 

CHARLES  C.  NOTT. 
To  Hon.  Abram  Lincoln. 


69  WALL  ST.,  NEW  YORK, 

May  23,  1860. 
Dear  Sir: 

I  enclose  a  copy  of  your  address  in  New  York. 

We  (the  Young  Men's  Rep.  Union)  design  to  publish 
a  new  edition  in  larger  type  and  better  form,  with  such 
notes  and  references  as  will  best  attract  readers  seek 
ing  information.  Have  you  any  memoranda  of  your 
investigations  which  you  would  approve  of  inserting? 

You  and  your  Western  friends,  I  think,  underrate 
this  speech.  It  has  produced  a  greater  effect  here  than 
any  other  single  speech.  It  is  the  real  platform  in  the 
Eastern  States,  and  must  carry  the  conservative 
element  in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania. 

Therefore  I  desire  that  it  should  be  as  nearly 
perfect  as  may  be.  Most  of  the  emendations  are 
trivial  and  do  not  affect  the  substance — all  are  merely 
suggested  for  your  judgment. 


Correspondence  with  Mr.  Lincoln    225 

I  cannot  help  adding  that  this  speech  is  an  extraor 
dinary  example  of  condensed  English.  After  some 
experience  in  criticising  for  Reviews,  I  find  hardly 
anything  to  touch  and  nothing  to  omit.  It  is  the  only 
one  I  know  of  which  I  cannot  shorten,  and — like  a 
good  arch — moving  one  word  tumbles  a  whole  sentence 
down. 

Finally — it  being  a  bad  and  foolish  thing  for  a  candi 
date  to  write  letters,  and  you  having  doubtless  more 
to  do  of  that  than  is  pleasant  or  profitable,  we  will 
not  add  to  your  burden  in  that  regard,  but  if  you  will 
let  any  friend  who  has  nothing  to  do,  advise  us  as  to 
your  wishes,  in  this  or  any  other  matter,  we  will  try  to 
carry  them  out. 

Respectfully, 

CHARLES  C.  NOTT. 
To  Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln. 


SPRINGFIELD,  ILLS.,  May  31,  1860. 
CHARLES  C.  NOTT,  Esq. 

My  Dear  Sir: 

Yours  of  the  23rd,  accompanied  by  a  copy  of  the 
speech  delivered  by  me  at  the  Cooper  Institute,  and 
upon  which  you  have  made  some  notes  for  emenda 
tions,  was  received  some  days  ago — Of  course  I  would 
not  object  to,  but  would  be  pleased  rather,  with  a 
more  perfect  edition  of  that  speech. 

I  did  not  preserve  memoranda  of  my  investiga 
tions;  and  I  could  not  now  re-examine,  and  make 


226  Appendix 

notes,  without  an  expenditure  of  time  which  I  can 
not  bestow  upon  it — Some  of  your  notes  I  do  not 
understand. 

So  far  as  it  is  intended  merely  to  improve  in 
grammar,  and  elegance  of  composition,  I  am  quite 
agreed;  but  I  do  not  wish  the  sense  changed,  or 
modified,  to  a  hair's  breadth— And  you,  not  having 
studied  the  particular  points  so  closely  as  I  have,  can 
not  be  quite  sure  that  you  do  not  change  the  sense 
when  you  do  not  intend  it — For  instance,  in  a  note  at 
bottom  of  first  page,  you  propose  to  substitute 
" Democrats"  for  "Douglas" — But  what  I  am  say 
ing  there  is  true  of  Douglas,  and  is  not  true  of  "Demo 
crats"  generally;  so  that  the  proposed  substitution 
would  be  a  very  considerable  blunder — Your  proposed 
insertion  of  "residences"  though  it  would  do  little 
or  no  harm,  is  not  at  all  necessary  to  the  sense  I  was 
trying  to  convey — On  page  5  your  proposed  gram 
matical  change  would  certainly  do  no  harm — The 
' '  impudently  absurd ' '  I  stick  to  — The  striking  out "  he  " 
and  inserting  "we"  turns  the  sense  exactly  wrong — 
The  striking  out  "upon  it"  leaves  the  sense  too  general 
and  incomplete — The  sense  is  "act  as  they  acted 
upon  that  question" — not  as  they  acted  generally. 

After  considering  your  proposed  changes  on  page  7, 
I  do  not  think  them  material,  but  I  am  willing  to  defer 
to  you  in  relation  to  them. 

On  page  9,  striking  out  "to  us"  is  probably  right— 
The  word  "lawyer's"  I  wish  retained.  The  word 


Correspondence  with  Mr.  Lincoln    227 

"Courts"  struck  out  twice,  I  wish  reduced  to  "Court" 
and  retained — "Court"  as  a  collection  more  properly 
governs  the  plural  "have"  as  I  understand — "The" 
preceding  "Court,"  in  the  latter  case,  must  also  be 
retained— The  words  "quite,"  "  as,"  and  "or"  on  the 
same  page,  I  wish  retained.  The  italicising,  and 
quotation  marking,  I  have  no  objection  to. 

As  to  the  note  at  bottom,  I  do  not  think  any  too 
much  is  admitted— What  you  propose  on  page  n  is 
right — I  return  your  copy  of  the  speech,  together  with 
one  printed  here,  under  my  own  hasty  supervising. 
That  at  New  York  was  printed  without  any  super 
vision  by  me — If  you  conclude  to  publish  a  new 
edition,  allow  me  to  see  the  proof-sheets. 

And  now  thanking  you  for  your  very  complimen 
tary  letter,  and  your  interest  for  me  generally,  I 
subscribe  myself. 

Your  friend  and  servant, 

A.  LINCOLN. 


69  WALL  STREET,  NEW  YORK. 

August  28,  1860. 
Dear  Sir: 

Mr.  Judd  insists  on  our  printing  the  revised  edition 
of  your  Cooper  Ins.  speech  without  waiting  to  send 
you  the  proofs. 

If  this  is  so  determined,  I  wish  you  to  know,  that 


228  Appendix 

I   have  made   no  alterations  other  than  those  you 
sanctioned,  except— 

1.  I  do  not  find  that  Abraham  Baldwin  voted  on 
the  Ordinance  of  '87.     On  the  contrary  he  appears  not 
to  have  acted  with  Congress  during  the  sitting  of  the 
Convention.     Wm.   Pierce  seems  to  have  taken  his 
place  then ;  and  his  name  is  recorded  as  voting  for  the 
Ordinance.     This  makes  no  difference  in  the  result, 
but  I  presume  you  will  not  wish  the  historical  in 
accuracy   (if  it  is  such)   to  stand.     I  will  therefore 
(unless  you  write  to  the  contrary)  strike  out  his  name 
in  that  place  and  reduce  the  number  from  "four"  to 
" three"  where  you  sum  up  the  number  of  times  he 
voted. 

2.  In  the  quotations  from  the  Constitution  I  have 
given    its   exact   language;   as   "delegated"    instead 
of  "granted,"  etc.     As  it  is  given  in  quo.  marks,  I 
presume    the   exact   letter  of    the    text    should    be 
followed. 

//  these  are  not  correct  please  write  immediately. 

Our  apology  for  the  delay  is  that  we  have  been 
weighed  down  by  other  matters ;  mine  that  I  have  but 
to-day  returned  to  town. 

Respectfully, 

CHARLES  C.  NOTT. 
To  Hon.  Abraham  Lincoln. 


Correspondence  with  Mr.  Lincoln    229 

69  WALL  STREET,  N.  Y. 

Sept.  17,  1860. 
Dear  Sir: 

We  forward  you  by  this  day's  express  250  copies, 
with  the  last  corrections.  I  delayed  sending,  think 
ing  that  you  would  prefer  these  to  those  first  printed. 
The  "Abraham  Baldwin  letter"  referred  to  in  your 
last  I  regret  to  say  has  not  arrived.  From  your  not 
touching  the  proofs  in  that  regard,  I  inferred  (and 
hope)  that  the  correction  was  not  itself  an  error. 

Should  you  wish  a  larger  number  of  copies  do  not 
hesitate  to  let  us  know ;  it  will  afford  us  much  pleasure 
to  furnish  them  and  no  inconvenience  whatever. 

Respectfully,  etc., 

CHARLES  C.  NOTT. 
Hon.  A.  Lincoln. 


SPRINGFIELD,  ILLS.,  Sept.  22,  1860. 
CHARLES  C.  NOTT,  Esq., 

My  Dear  Sir: 

Yours  of  the  i;th  was  duly  received — The  250 
copies  have  not  yet  arrived — I  am  greatly  obliged  to 
you  for  what  you  have  done,  and  what  you  propose 
to  do. 

The  "Abraham  Baldwin  letter"  in  substance  was 
that  I  could  not  find  the  Journal  of  the  Confederation 
Congress  for  the  session  at  which  was  passed  the 


230  Appendix 

Ordinance  of  1787— and  that  in  stating  Mr.  Baldwin 
had  voted  for  its  passage,  I  had  relied  on  a  communica- 
ton  of  Mr.  Greeley,  over  his  own  signature,  published 
in  the  New  York  Weekly  Tribune  of  October  15,  1859. 
If  you  will  turn  to  that  paper,  you  will  there  see 
that  Mr.  Greeley  apparently  copies  from  the  Journal, 
and  places  the  name  of  Mr.  Baldwin  among  those  of 
the  men  who  voted  for  the  measure. 

Still,    if   the   Journal   itself   shows   differently,    of 
course  it  is  right. 

Yours  very  truly, 

A.  LINCOLN. 


The  Address  of 
THE  HON.  ABRAHAM  LINCOLN, 

In  Vindication  of  the  Policy  of  the  Framers  of  the 
Constitution  and  the  Principles  of  the 

Republican  Party. 

Delivered  at  Cooper  Institute,  February  27th,  1860. 
Issued  by  the  Young  Men's  Republican  Union. 

With  Notes  by 

CHARLES  C.  NOTT  and  CEPHAS  BRAINERD, 
Members  of  the  Board  of  Control. 


231 


OFFICERS  OF  THE  UNION 

CHARLES  T.  RODGERS,  President. 
DEXTER  A.  HAWKINS,  Vice-President. 
ERASMUS  STERLING,  Secretary. 
WILLIAM  M.  FRANKLIN,  Treasurer. 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE 
CEPHAS  BRAINERD,  Chairman. 

BENJAMIN  F.  MANIERRE,  P.  G.  DEGRAW, 

RICHARD  C.  McCORMICK,  JAMES  H.  WELSH, 

CHARLES  C.  NOTT,  E.  C.  JOHNSON, 

CHARLES  H.  COOPER,  LEWIS  M.  PECK. 

ADVISORY  BOARD 

WM.  CULLEN  BRYANT,  HAMILTON  FISH, 

DANIEL  DREW,  FRANCIS  HALL, 

HIRAM  BARNEY,  HORACE  GREELEY, 

WILLIAM  V.  BRADY,  CHARLES  A.  PEABODY, 

JOHN  JAY,  EDGAR  KETCHUM, 

GEORGE  W.  BLUNT,  JAMES  KELLY, 

HENRY  A.  HURLBUT,  GEORGE  FOLSOM, 

ABIJAH  MANN,  JR.,  WILLIAM  CURTIS  NO  YES, 
BENJAMIN  F.  MANIERRE. 


232 


PREFACE 

THIS  edition  of  Mr.  Lincoln's  address  has  been 
prepared  and  published  by  the  Young  Men's  Republi 
can  Union  of  New  York,  to  exemplify  its  wisdom, 
truthfulness,  and  learning.  No  one  who  has  not 
actually  attempted  to  verify  its  details  can  under 
stand  the  patient  research  and  historical  labor  which 
it  embodies.  The  history  of  our  earlier  politics  is 
scattered  through  numerous  journals,  statutes,  pam 
phlets,  and  letters;  and  these  are  defective  in  com 
pleteness  and  accuracy  of  statement,  and  in  indices 
and  tables  of  contents.  Neither  can  any  one  who 
has  not  travelled  over  this  precise  ground  appreciate 
the  accuracy  of  every  trivial  detail,  or  the  self-denying 
impartiality  with  which  Mr.  Lincoln  has  turned 
from  the  testimony  of  "the  Fathers,"  on  the  general 
question  of  slavery,  to  present  the  single  question 
which  he  discusses.  From  the  first  line  to  the  last  — 
from  his  premises  to  his  conclusion,  he  travels  with 
swift,  unerring  directness  which  no  logician  ever 
excelled — an  argument  complete  and  full,  without 
the  affectation  of  learning,  and  without  the  stiffness 
which  usually  accompanies  dates  and  details.  A 
single,  easy,  simple  sentence  of  plain  Anglo-Saxon 

233 


234  Appendix 

words  contains  a  chapter  of  history  that,  in  some 
instances,  has  taken  days  of  labor  to  verify  and 
which  must  have  cost  the  author  months  of  in 
vestigation  to  acquire.  And,  though  the  public 
should  justly  estimate  the  labor  bestowed  on  the 
facts  which  are  stated,  they  cannot  estimate  the 
greater  labor  involved  on  those  which  are  omitted — 
how  many  pages  have  been  read — how  many  works 
examined — what  numerous  statutes,  resolutions, 
speeches,  letters,  and  biographies  have  been  looked 
through.  Commencing  with  this  address  as  a 
political  pamphlet,  the  reader  will  leave  it  as  an 
historical  work — brief,  complete,  profound,  im 
partial,  truthful — which  will  survive  the  time  and  the 
occasion  that  called  it  forth,  and  be  esteemed  here 
after,  no  less  for  its  intrinsic  worth  than  its  unpre 
tending  modesty. 

NEW  YORK,  September,  1860. 


ADDRESS 

MR  PRESIDENT  AND  FELLOW-CITIZENS  OF  NEW 
YORK: — The  facts  with  which  I  shall  deal  this 
evening  are  mainly  old  and  familiar ;  nor  is  there  any 
thing  new  in  the  general  use  I  shall  make  of  them. 
If  there  shall  be  any  novelty,  it  will  be  in  the  mode  of 
presenting  the  facts,  and  the  inferences  and  observa 
tions  following  that  presentation. 

In  his  speech  last  autumn,  at  Columbus,  Ohio, 
as  reported  in  the  New  York  Times,  Senator  Douglas 
said: 

' '  Our  fathers,  when  they  framed  the  Government  under 
which  we  live,  understood  this  question  just  as  well,  and 
even  better  than  we  do  now. " 

I  fully  indorse  this,  and  I  adopt  it  as  a  text  for  this 
discourse.  I  so  adopt  it  because  it  furnishes  a  precise 
and  an  agreed  starting-point  for  a  discussion  between 
Republicans  and  that  wing  of  the  Democracy  headed 
by  Senator  Douglas.  It  simply  leaves  the  inquiry: 
"What  was  the  understanding  those  fathers  had  of  the 
question  mentioned?" 

What  is  the  frame  of  Government  under  which  we 
live? 

The  answer  must  be:  "The  Constitution  of  the 
United  States."  That  Constitution  consists  of  the 

235 


236  Appendix 

original,  framed  in  1787,  (and  under  which  the  present 
Government  first  went  into  operation,)  and  twelve 
subsequently  framed  amendments,  the  first  ten  of 
which  were  framed  in  1 789.  (i) 

Who  were  our  fathers  that  framed  the  Constitu 
tion?  I  suppose  the  "thirty-nine"  who  signed  the 
original  instrument  may  be  fairly  called  our  fathers 
who  framed  that  part  of  the  present  Government. 
It  is  almost  exactly  true  to  say  they  framed  it,  and  it 
is  altogether  true  to  say  they  fairly  represented  the 
opinion  and  sentiment  of  the  whole  nation  at  that 
time.  Their  names,  being  familiar  to  nearly  all, 
and  accessible  to  quite  all,  need  not  now  be  repeated. 

w 

I  take  these  "thirty-nine"  for  the  present,  as 
being  "our  fathers  who  framed  the  Government 
under  which  we  live." 

What  is  the  question  which,  according  to  the  text, 
those  fathers  understood  "just  as  well,  and  even  better 
than  we  do  now"? 

It  is  this:  Does  the  proper  division  of  local  from 
federal  authority,  or  anything  in  the  Constitution, 
forbid  our  Federal  Government  to  control  as  to  slavery 
in  our  Federal  Territories? 

Upon  this,  Senator  Douglas  holds  the  affirmative, 
and  Republicans  the  negative.  This  affirmation  and 
denial  form  an  issue;  and  this  issue — this  question  — 
is  precisely  what  the  text  declares  our  fathers  under 
stood  "better  than  we. " 


Address  237 

Let  us  now  inquire  whether  the  " thirty-nine,"  or 
any  of  them,  ever  acted  upon  this  question;  and  if 
they  did,  how  they  acted  upon  it — how  they  expressed 
that  better  understanding. 

In  1784,  three  years  before  the  Constitution — the 
United  States  then  owning  the  Northwestern  Territory, 
and  no  other,  (3)  the  Congress  of  the  Confederation 
had  before  them  the  question  of  prohibiting  slav 
ery  in  that  Territory;  and  four  of  the  "thirty-nine" 
who  afterward  framed  the  Constitution,  were  in  that 
Congress,  and  voted  on  that  question.  Of  these, 
Roger  Sherman,  Thomas  Mifflin,  and  Hugh  William 
son  voted  for  the  prohibition,  (4)  thus  showing  that, 
in  their  understanding,  no  line  dividing  local  from 
federal  authority,  nor  anything  else,  properly  forbade 
the  Federal  Government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in 
federal  territory.  The  other  of  the  four — James 
M' Henry — voted  against  the  prohibition,  showing 
that,  for  some  cause,  he  thought  it  improper  to  vote 
for  it.  (5) 

In  1787,  still  before  the  Constitution,  but  while  the 
Convention  was  in  session  framing  it,  and  while  the 
Northwestern  Territory  still  was  the  only  territory 
owned  by  the  United  States,  the  same  question  of  pro 
hibiting  Slavery  in  the  Territories  again  came  before 
the  Congress  of  the  Confederation;  and  two  more  of 
the  "thirty-nine"  who  afterward  signed  the  Consti 
tution,  were  in  that  Congress,  and  voted  on  the  ques 
tion.  They  were  William  Blount  and  William  Few  (6) ; 


238  Appendix 

and  they  both  voted  for  the  prohibition — thus  show 
ing  that,  in  their  understanding,  no  line  dividing 
local  from  federal  authority,  nor  anything  else,  pro 
perly  forbade  the  Federal  Government  to  control  as 
to  slavery  in  federal  territory.  This  time,  the  pro 
hibition  became  a  law,  being  part  of  what  is  now  well 
known  as  the  Ordinance  of  '87.  (7) 

The  question  of  federal  control  of  slavery  in  the 
territories,  seems  not  to  have  been  directly  before  the 
Convention  which  framed  the  original  Constitution; 
and  hence  it  is  not  recorded  that  the  "thirty- 
nine,"  or  any  of  them,  while  engaged  on  that  in 
strument,  expressed  any  opinion  on  that  precise 
question.  (8) 

In  1789,  by  the  first  Congress  which  sat  under  the 
Constitution,  an  act  was  passed  to  enforce  the  Ordi 
nance  of  '87,  including  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in 
the  Northwestern  Territory.  The  bill  for  this  act 
was  reported  by  one  of  the  "thirty-nine,"  Thomas 
Fitzsimmons,  then  a  member  of  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  from  Pennsylvania.  It  went  through  all 
its  stages  without  a  word  of  opposition,  and  finally 
passed  both  branches  without  yeas  and  nays,  which  is 
equivalent  to  an  unanimous  passage.  (9)  In  this  Con 
gress,  there  were  sixteen  of  the  thirty-nine  fathers 
who  framed  the  original  Constitution.  They  were 
John  Langdon,  Nicholas  Oilman,  Wm.  S.  Johnson, 
Roger  Sherman,  Robert  Morris,  Thos.  Fitzsimmons, 
William  Few,  Abraham  Baldwin,  Rufus  King,  William 


Address  239 

Paterson,  George  Clymer,  Richard  Bassett,  George 
Read,  Pierce  Butler,  Daniel  Carroll,  James  Madison. 
(10) 

This  shows  that,  in  their  understanding,  no  line 
dividing  local  from  federal  authority,  nor  anything 
in  the  Constitution,  properly  forbade  Congress  to 
prohibit  slavery  in  the  federal  territory;  else  both 
their  fidelity  to  correct  principle,  and  their  oath  to 
support  the  Constitution,  would  have  constrained 
them  to  oppose  the  prohibition. 

Again,  George  Washington,  another  of  the  "  thirty- 
nine, "  was  then  President  of  the  United  States,  and, 
as  such,  approved  and  signed  the  bill;  thus  completing 
its  validity  as  a  law,  and  thus  showing  that,  in  his 
understanding,  no  line  dividing  local  from  federal 
authority,  nor  anything  in  the  Constitution,  forbade 
the  Federal  Government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in 
federal  territory. 

No  great  while  after  the  adoption  of  the  original 
Constitution,  North  Carolina  ceded  to  the  Federal 
Government  the  country  now  constituting  the  State 
of  Tennessee;  and  a  few  years  later  Georgia  ceded 
that  which  now  constitutes  the  States  of  Missis 
sippi  and  Alabama.  In  both  deeds  of  cession  it  was 
made  a  condition  by  the  ceding  States  that  the  Federal 
Government  should  not  prohibit  slavery  in  the  ceded 
country,  (n)  Besides  this,  slavery  was  then  actually 
in  the  ceded  country.  Under  these  circumstances, 
Congress,  on  taking  charge  of  these  countries,  did  not 


240  Appendix 

absolutely  prohibit  slavery  within  them.  But  they 
did  interfere  with  it — take  control  of  it — even  there, 
to  a  certain  extent.  In  1798,  Congress  organized 
the  Territory  of  Mississippi.  In  the  act  of  organiza 
tion,  they  prohibited  the  bringing  of  slaves  into  the 
Territory,  from  any  place  without  the  United  States, 
by  fine,  and  giving  freedom  to  slaves  so  brought. (12) 
This  act  passed  both  branches  of  Congress  without 
yeas  and  nays.  In  that  Congress  were  three  of  the 
"thirty-nine"  who  framed  the  original  Constitution. 
They  were  John  Langdon,  George  Read  and  Abraham 
Baldwin.  (13)  They  all,  probably,  voted  for  it. 
Certainly  they  would  have  placed  their  opposition  to 
it  upon  record,  if,  in  their  understanding,  any  line 
dividing  local  from  federal  authority,  or  anything 
in  the  Constitution,  properly  forbade  the  Federal 
Government  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  federal 
territory. 

In  1803,  the  Federal  Government  purchased  the 
Louisiana  country.  Our  former  territorial  acquisi 
tions  came  from  certain  of  our  own  States;  but  this 
Louisiana  country  was  acquired  from  a  foreign  nation. 
In  1804,  Congress  gave  a  territorial  organization  to 
that  part  of  it  which  now  constitutes  the  State  of 
Louisiana.  New  Orleans,  lying  within  that  part, 
was  an  old  and  comparatively  large  city.  There 
were  other  considerable  towns  and  settlements,  and 
slavery  was  extensively  and  thoroughly  intermingled 
with  the  people.  Congress  did  not,  in  the  Territorial 


Address 


Act,  prohibit  slavery;  but  they  did  interfere  with  it- 
take  control  of  it  —  in  a  more  marked  and  extensive 
way  than  they  did  in  the  case  of  Mississippi.  The 
substance  of  the  provision  therein  made,  in  relation 
to  slaves,  was: 

First.  That  no  slave  should  be  imported  into  the 
territory  from  foreign  parts. 

Second.  That  no  slave  should  be  carried  into  it 
who  had  been  imported  into  the  United  States  since 
the  first  day  of  May,  1798. 

Third.  That  no  slave  should  be  carried  into  it, 
except  by  the  owner,  and  for  his  own  use  as  a  settler; 
the  penalty  in  all  the  cases  being  a  fine  upon  the  viola 
tor  of  the  law,  and  freedom  to  the  slave.  (14) 

This  act  also  was  passed  without  yeas  and  nays. 
In  the  Congress  which  passed  it,  there  were  two  of  the 
"thirty-nine."  They  were  Abraham  Baldwin  and 
Jonathan  Dayton.  (15)  As  stated  in  the  case  of 
Mississippi,  it  is  probable  they  both  voted  for  it. 
They  would  not  have  allowed  it  to  pass  without  record 
ing  their  opposition  to  it,  if,  in  their  understanding, 
it  violated  either  the  line  properly  dividing  local 
from  federal  authority,  or  any  provision  of  the  Con 
stitution. 

In  1819—20,  came  and  passed  the  Missouri  question. 
Many  votes  were  taken,  by  yeas  and  nays,  in  both 
branches  of  Congress,  upon  the  various  phases  of 
the  general  question.  Two  of  the  "thirty-nine"  — 
Rufus  King  and  Charles  Pinckney  —  were  members 

16 


242  Appendix 

of  that  Congress.  (16)  Mr.  King  steadily  voted  for 
slavery  prohibition  and  against  all  compromises,  while 
Mr.  Pinckney  as  steadily  voted  against  slavery  pro 
hibition  and  against  all  compromises.  By  this,  Mr. 
King  showed  that,  in  his  understanding,  no  line  divid 
ing  local  from  federal  authority,  nor  anything  in  the 
Constitution,  was  violated  by  Congress  prohibiting 
slavery  in  federal  territory;  while  Mr.  Pinckney,  by 
his  votes,  showed  that,  in  his  understanding,  there 
was  some  sufficient  reason  for  opposing  such  prohibi 
tion  in  that  case.  (17) 

The  cases  I  have  mentioned  are  the  only  acts  of  the 
"thirty-nine,"  or  of  any  of  them,  upon  the  direct 
issue,  which  I  have  been  able  to  discover. 

To  enumerate  the  persons  who  thus  acted ,  as  being 
four  in  1784,  two  in  1787,  seventeen  in  1789,  three 
in  1798,  two  in  1804,  and  two  in  1819-20 — there 
would  be  thirty  of  them.  But  this  would  be  count 
ing  John  Langdon,  Roger  Sherman,  William  Few, 
Rufus  King,  and  George  Read  each  twice,  and  Abra 
ham  Baldwin  three  times.  The  true  number  of 
those  of  the  "thirty-nine"  whom  I  have  shown  to 
have  acted  upon  the  question,  which,  by  the  text, 
they  understood  better  than  we,  is  twenty-three, 
leaving  sixteen  not  shown  to  have  acted  upon  it  in 
any  way.  (18) 

Here,  then,  we  have  twenty-three  out  of  our  thirty- 
nine  fathers  "who  framed  the  Government  under 
which  we  live,"  who  have,  upon  their  official  respon- 


Address  243 

sibility  and  their  corporal  oaths,  acted  upon  the  very 
question  which  the  text  affirms  they  "understood 
just  as  well,  and  even  better  than  we  do  now";  and 
twenty-one  of  them — a  clear  majority  of  the  whole 
"thirty-nine" — so  acting  upon  it  as  to  make  them 
guilty  of  gross  political  impropriety  and  wilful  per 
jury,  if,  in  their  understanding,  any  proper  division 
between  local  and  federal  authority,  or  anything  in 
the  Constitution  they  had  made  themselves,  and 
sworn  to  support,  forbade  the  Federal  Government  to 
control  as  to  slavery  in  the  federal  territories.  Thus 
the  twenty-one  acted;  and,  as  actions  speak  louder 
than  words,  so  actions  under  such  responsibility  speak 
still  louder. 

Two  of  the  twenty-three  voted  against  Congressional 
prohibition  of  slavery  in  the  federal  territories,  in  the 
instances  in  which  they  acted  upon  the  question.  But 
for  what  reasons  they  so  voted  is  not  known.  They 
may  have  done  so  because  they  thought  a  proper 
division  of  local  from  federal  authority,  or  some  pro 
vision  or  principle  of  the  Constitution,  stood  in  the 
way;  or  they  may,  without  any  such  question,  have 
voted  against  the  prohibition  on  what  appeared 
to  them  to  be  sufficient  grounds  of  expediency.  No 
one  who  has  sworn  to  support  the  Constitution  can 
conscientiously  vote  for  what  he  understands  to  be  an 
unconstitutional  measure,  however  expedient  he  may 
think  it;  but  one  may  and  ought  to  vote  against  a 
measure  which  he  deems  constitutional,  if,  at  the 


244  Appendix 

same  time,  he  deems  it  inexpedient.  It,  therefore, 
would  be  unsafe  to  set  down  even  the  two  who  voted 
against  the  prohibition,  as  having  done  so  because, 
in  their  understanding,  any  proper  division  of  local 
from  federal  authority,  or  anything  in  the  Constitu 
tion,  forbade  the  Federal  Government  to  control  as 
to  slavery  in  federal  territory.  (19) 

The  remaining  sixteen  of  the  "thirty-nine,"  so  far 
as  I  have  discovered,  have  left  no  record  of  their  un 
derstanding  upon  the  direct  question  of  federal  con 
trol  of  slavery  in  the  federal  territories.  But  there  is 
much  reason  to  believe  that  their  understanding  upon 
that  question  would  not  have  appeared  different  from 
that  of  their  twenty-three  compeers,  had  it  been 
manifested  at  all.  (20) 

For  the  purpose  of  adhering  rigidly  to  the  text,  I 
have  purposely  omitted  whatever  understanding  may 
have  been  manifested  by  any  person,  however  dis 
tinguished,  other  than  the  thirty-nine  fathers  who 
framed  the  original  Constitution;  and,  for  the  same 
reason,  I  have  also  omitted  whatever  understanding 
may  have  been  manifested  by  any  of  the  "thirty- 
nine  "  even,  on  any  other  phase  of  the  general  question 
of  slavery.  If  we  should  look  into  their  acts  and 
declarations  on  those  other  phases,  as  the  foreign 
slave  trade,  and  the  morality  and  policy  of  slavery 
generally,  it  would  appear  to  us  that  on  the  direct 
question  of  federal  control  of  slavery  in  federal  terri 
tories,  the  sixteen,  if  they  had  acted  at  all,  would 


Address  245 

probably  have  acted  just  as  the  twenty-three  did. 
Among  that  sixteen  were  several  of  the  most  noted 
anti-slavery  men  of  those  times — as  Dr.  Franklin, 
Alexander  Hamilton,  and  Gouverneur  Morris — 
while  there  was  not  one  now  known  to  have  been 
otherwise,  unless  it  may  be  John  Rutledge,  of  South 
Carolina.  (21) 

The  sum  of  the  whole  is,  that  of  our  thirty-nine 
fathers  who  framed  the  original  Constitution,  twenty- 
one — a  clear  majority  of  the  whole — certainly  under 
stood  that  no  proper  division  of  local  from  federal 
authority,  nor  any  part  of  the  Constitution,  forbade 
the  Federal  Government  to  control  slavery  in  the 
federal  territories;  while  all  the  rest  probably  had 
the  same  understanding.  Such,  unquestionably,  was 
the  understanding  of  our  fathers  who  framed  the 
original  Constitution;  and  the  text  affirms  that  they 
understood  the  question  "better  than  we." 

But,  so  far,  I  have  been  considering  the  understand 
ing  of  the  question  manifested  by  the  framers  of  the 
original  Constitution.  In  and  by  the  original  in 
strument,  a  mode  was  provided  for  amending  it;  and, 
as  I  have  already  stated,  the  present  frame  of  "the 
Government  under  which  we  live"  consists  of  that 
original,  and  twelve  amendatory  articles  framed  and 
adopted  since.  Those  who  now  insist  that  federal 
control  of  slavery  in  federal  territories  violates  the 
Constitution,  point  us  to  the  provisions  which  they 
suppose  it  thus  violates;  and,  as  I  understand,  they 


246  Appendix 

all  fix  upon  provisions  in  these  amendatory  articles 
and  not  in  the  original  instrument.  The  Supreme 
Court,  in  the  Dred  Scott  case,  plant  themselves  upon 
the  fifth  amendment,  which  provides  that  no  person 
shall  be  deprived  of  "life,  liberty  or  property  without 
due  process  of  law";  while  Senator  Douglas  and  his 
peculiar  adherents  plant  themselves  upon  the  tenth 
amendment,  providing  that  "the  powers  not  dele 
gated  to  the  United  States  by  the  Constitution" 
"are  reserved  to  the  States  respectively,  or  to  the 
people."  (22) 

Now,  it  so  happens  that  these  amendments  were 
framed  by  the  first  Congress  which  sat  under  the 
Constitution — the  identical  Congress  which  passed 
the  act  already  mentioned,  enforcing  the  prohibition 
of  slavery  in  the  Northwestern  Territory.  Not  only 
was  it  the  same  Congress,  but  they  were  the  identical 
same  individual  men  who,  at  the  same  session,  and  at 
the  same  time  within  the  session  had  under  considera 
tion,  and  in  progress  toward  maturity,  these  Consti 
tutional  amendments,  and  this  act  prohibiting  slavery 
in  all  the  territory  the  nation  then  owned.  The  Con 
stitutional  amendments  were  introduced  before,  and 
passed  after,  the  act  enforcing  the  Ordinance  of  '87 ; 
so  that,  during  the  whole  pendency  of  the  act  to 
enforce  the  Ordinance,  the  Constitutional  amend 
ments  were  also  pending.  (23) 

The  seventy-six  members  of  that  Congress,  includ 
ing  sixteen  of  the  framers  of  the  original  Constitu- 


Address  247 

tion,  as  before  stated,  were  pre-eminently  our  fathers 
who  framed  that  part  of  "the  Government  under 
which  we  live,"  which  is  now  claimed  as  forbidding 
the  Federal  Government  to  control  slavery  in  the 
federal  territories. 

Is  it  not  a  little  presumptuous  in  any  one  at  this 
day  to  affirm  that  the  two  things  which  that  Congress 
deliberately  framed,  and  carried  to  maturity  at  the 
same  time,  are  absolutely  inconsistent  with  each 
other?  And  does  not  such  affirmation  become  impu 
dently  absurd  when  coupled  with  the  other  affirma 
tion  from  the  same  mouth,  that  those  who  did  the  two 
things,  alleged  to  be  inconsistent,  understood  whether 
they  really  were  inconsistent  better  than  we — better 
than  he  who  affirms  that  they  are  inconsistent  ? 

It  is  surely  safe  to  assume  that  the  thirty-nine 
framers  of  the  original  Constitution,  and  the  seventy- 
six  members  of  the  Congress  which  framed  the  amend 
ments  thereto,  taken  together,  do  certainly  include 
those  who  may  be  fairly  called  "  our  fathers  who 
framed  the  Government  under  which  we  live."  (24) 
And  so  assuming,  I  defy  any  man  to  show  that  any 
one  of  them  ever,  in  his  whole  life,  declared  that,  in 
his  understanding,  any  proper  division  of  local  from 
federal  authority,  or  any  part  of  the  Constitution, 
forbade  the  Federal  Government  to  control  as  to 
slavery  in  the  federal  territories.  I  go  a  step  further. 
I  defy  any  one  to  show  that  any  living  man  in  the 
whole  world  ever  did,  prior  to  the  beginning  of 


248  Appendix 

the  present  century,  (and  I  might  almost  say  prior  to 
the  beginning  of  the  last  half  of  the  present  century,) 
declare  that,  in  his  understanding,  any  proper  division 
of  local  from  federal  authority,  or  any  part  of  the 
Constitution,  forbade  the  Federal  Government  to 
control  as  to  slavery  in  the  federal  territories.  To 
those  who  now  so  declare,  I  give,  not  only  "  our  fathers 
who  framed  the  Government  under  which  we  live," 
but  with  them  all  other  living  men  within  the  century 
in  which  it  was  framed,  among  whom  to  search,  and 
they  shall  not  be  able  to  find  the  evidence  of  a  single 
man  agreeing  with  them. 

Now,  and  here,  let  me  guard  a  little  against  being 
misunderstood.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  we  are  bound 
to  follow  implicitly  in  whatever  our  fathers  did.  To 
do  so,  would  be  to  discard  all  the  lights  of  current 
experience — to  reject  all  progress — all  improvement. 
What  I  do  say  is,  that  if  we  would  supplant  the  opin 
ions  and  policy  of  our  fathers  in  any  case,  we  should 
do  so  upon  evidence  so  conclusive,  and  argument  so 
clear,  that  even  their  great  authority,  fairly  considered 
and  weighed,  cannot  stand;  and  most  surely  not  in  a 
case  whereof  we  ourselves  declare  they  understood 
the  question  better  than  we. 

If  any  man  at  this  day  sincerely  believes  that  a 
proper  division  of  local  from  federal  authority,  or  any 
part  of  the  Constitution,  forbids  the  Federal  Govern 
ment  to  control  as  to  slavery  in  the  federal  territories, 
he  is  right  to  say  so,  and  to  enforce  his  position  by  all 


Address  249 

truthful  evidence  and  fair  argument  which  he  can. 
But  he  has  no  right  to  mislead  others,  who  have  less 
access  to  history,  and  less  leisure  to  study  it,  into  the 
false  belief  that  "  our  fathers,  who  framed  the  Govern 
ment  under  which  we  live,"  were  of  the  same  opinion 
— thus  substituting  falsehood  and  deception  for  truth 
ful  evidence  and  fair  argument.  If  any  man  at  this 
day  sincerely  believes  "  our  fathers  who  framed  the 
Government  under  which  we  live, "  used  and  applied 
principles,  in  other  cases,  which  ought  to  have  led 
them  to  understand  that  a  proper  division  of  local 
from  federal  authority  or  some  part  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  forbids  the  Federal  Government  to  control  as 
to  slavery  in  the  federal  territories,  he  is  right  to  say 
so.  But  he  should,  at  the  same  time,  brave  the 
responsibility  of  declaring  that,  in  his  opinion,  he 
understands  their  principles  better  than  they  did 
themselves;  and  especially  should  he  not  shirk  that 
responsibility  by  asserting  that  they  "understood 
the  question  just  as  well,  and  even  better,  than  we 
do  now. " 

But  enough!  Let  all  who  believe  that  "our  fathers, 
who  framed  the  Government  under  which  we  live, 
understood  this  question  just  as  well,  and  even  better, 
than  we  do  now,"  speak  as  they  spoke,  and  act  as  they 
acted  upon  it.  This  is  all  Republicans  ask — all 
Republicans  desire — in  relation  to  slavery.  As  those 
fathers  marked  it,  so  let  it  be  again  marked,  as  an  evil 
not  to  be  extended,  but  to  be  tolerated  and  protected  only 


250  Appendix 

because  of  and  so  far  as  its  actual  presence  among  us 
makes  that  toleration  and  protection  a  necessity.  Let 
all  the  guaranties  those  fathers  gave  it,  be,  not  grudgingly, 
but  fully  and  fairly  maintained.  For  this  Republicans 
contend,  and  with  this,  so  far  as  I  know  or  believe, 
they  will  be  content. 

And  now,  if  they  would  listen — as  I  suppose  they 
will  not — I  would  address  a  few  words  to  the  Southern 
people. 

I  would  say  to  them:  You  consider  yourselves  a 
reasonable  and  a  just  people;  and  I  consider  that  in 
the  general  qualities  of  reason  and  justice  you  are  not 
inferior  to  any  other  people.  Still,  when  you  speak 
of  us  Republicans,  you  do  so  only  to  denounce  us  as 
reptiles,  or,  at  the  best,  as  no  better  than  outlaws. 
You  will  grant  a  hearing  to  pirates  or  murderers,  but 
nothing  like  it  to  "Black  Republicans."  In  all  your 
contentions  with  one  another  each  of  you  deems  an 
unconditional  condemnation  of  "Black  Republican 
ism"  as  the  first  thing  to  be  attended  to.  Indeed, 
such  condemnation  of  us  seems  to  be  an  indispensable 
prerequisite — licence,  so  to  speak — among  you  to  be 
admitted  or  permitted  to  speak  at  all.  Now,  can 
you,  or  not,  be  prevailed  upon  to  pause  and  to  consider 
whether  this  is  quite  just  to  us,  or  even  to  yourselves  ? 
Bring  forward  your  charges  and  specifications,  and 
then  be  patient  long  enough  to  hear  us  deny  or  justify. 

You  say  we  are  sectional.  We  deny  it.  That 
makes  an  issue;  and  the  burden  of  proof  is  upon  you. 


Address  251 

You  produce  your  proof;  and  what  is  it?  Why,  that 
our  party  has  no  existence  in  your  section — gets  no 
votes  in  your  section.  The  fact  is  substantially  true ; 
but  does  it  prove  the  issue?  If  it  does,  then  in  case 
we  should,  without  change  of  principle,  begin  to 
get  votes  in  your  section,  we  should  thereby  cease  to 
be  sectional.  You  cannot  escape  this  conclusion; 
and  yet,  are  you  willing  to  abide  by  it?  If  you  are, 
you  will  probably  soon  find  that  we  have  ceased  to  be 
sectional,  for  we  shall  get  votes  in  your  section  this 
very  year.  You  will  then  begin  to  discover,  as  the 
truth  plainly  is,  that  your  proof  does  not  touch  the 
issue.  The  fact  that  we  get  no  votes  in  your  section, 
is  a  fact  of  your  making,  and  not  of  ours.  And  if 
there  be  fault  in  that  fact,  that  fault  is  primarily 
yours,  and  remains  so  until  you  show  that  we  repel 
you  by  some  wrong  principle  or  practice.  If  we  do 
repel  you  by  any  wrong  principle  or  practice,  the 
fault  is  ours;  but  this  brings  you  to  where  you  ought 
to  have  started — to  a  discussion  of  the  right  or  wrong 
of  our  principle.  If  our  principle,  put  in  practice, 
would  wrong  your  section  for  the  benefit  of  ours,  or 
for  any  other  object,  then  our  principle,  and  we  with 
it,  are  sectional,  and  are  justly  opposed  and  de 
nounced  as  such.  Meet  us,  then,  on  the  question  of 
whether  our  principle,  put  in  practice,  would  wrong 
your  section;  and  so  meet  us  as  if  it  were  possible 
that  something  may  be  said  on  our  side.  Do  you  ac 
cept  the  challenge?  No!  Then  you  really  believe 


252  Appendix 

that  the  principle  which  "  our  fathers  who  framed  the 
Government  under  which  we  live"  thought  so  clearly 
right  as  to  adopt  it,  and  indorse  it  again  and  again, 
upon  their  official  oaths,  is  in  fact  so  clearly  wrong 
as  to  demand  your  condemnation  without  a  moment's 
consideration. 

Some  of  you  delight  to  flaunt  in  our  faces  the  warn 
ing  against  sectional  parties  given  by  Washington  in 
his  Farewell  Address.  Less  than  eight  years  before 
Washington  gave  that  warning,  he  had,  as  President 
of  the  United  States,  approved  and  signed  an  act  of 
Congress,  enforcing  the  prohibition  of  slavery  in  the 
Northwestern  Territory,  which  act  embodied  the 
policy  of  the  Government  upon  that  subject  up  to  and 
at  the  very  moment  he  penned  that  warning;  and 
about  one  year  after  he  penned  it,  he  wrote  Lafayette 
that  he  considered  that  prohibition  a  wise  measure, 
expressing  in  the  same  connection  his  hope  that  we 
should  at  some  time  have  a  confederacy  of  free  States. 

(25) 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  and  seeing  that  sectionalism 
has  since  arisen  upon  this  same  subject,  is  that  warn 
ing  a  weapon  in  your  hands  against  us,  or  in  our  hands 
against  you?  Could  Washington  himself  speak, 
would  he  cast  the  blame  of  that  sectionalism  upon 
us,  who  sustain  his  policy,  or  upon  you  who  repudiate 
it?  We  respect  that  warning  of  Washington,  and  we 
commend  it  to  you,  together  with  his  example  point 
ing  to  the  right  application  of  it. 


Address  253 

But  you  say  you  are  conservative — eminently 
conservative — while  we  are  revolutionary,  destructive, 
or  something  of  the  sort.  What  is  conservatism? 
Is  it  not  adherence  to  the  old  and  tried,  against  the 
new  and  untried?  We  stick  to,  contend  for,  the  iden 
tical  old  policy  on  the  point  in  controversy  which  was 
adopted  by  "  our  fathers  who  framed  the  Government 
under  which  we  live";  while  you  with  one  accord 
reject,  and  scout,  and  spit  upon  that  old  policy,  and 
insist  upon  substituting  something  new.  True,  you 
disagree  among  yourselves  as  to  what  that  substitute 
shall  be.  You  are  divided  on  new  propositions  and 
plans,  but  you  are  unanimous  in  rejecting  and  de 
nouncing  the  old  policy  of  the  fathers.  Some  of  you 
are  for  reviving  the  foreign  slave  trade;  some  for  a 
Congressional  Slave-Code  for  the  Territories ;  some  for 
Congress  forbidding  the  Territories  to  prohibit  Slavery 
within  their  limits;  some  for  maintaining  Slavery  in 
the  Territories  through  the  judiciary;  some  for  the 
"gur-reat  pur-rinciple "  that  "if  one  man  would 
enslave  another,  no  third  man  should  object," 
fantastically  called  "Popular  Sovereignty";  but 
never  a  man  among  you  in  favor  of  federal  prohibi 
tion  of  slavery  in  federal  territories,  according  to  the 
practice  of  "  our  fathers  who  framed  the  Government 
under  which  we  live."  Not  one  of  all  your  various 
plans  can  show  a  precedent  or  an  advocate  in  the 
century  within  which  our  Government  originated. 
Consider,  then,  whether  your  claim  of  conservatism 


254  Appendix 

for  yourselves,  and  your  charge  of  destructiveness 
against  us,  are  based  on  the  most  clear  and  stable 
foundations. 

Again,  you  say  we  have  made  the  slavery  question 
more  prominent  than  it  formerly  was.  We  deny  it. 
We  admit  that  it  is  more  prominent,  but  we  deny  that 
we  made  it  so.  It  was  not  we,  but  you,  who  discarded 
the  old  policy  of  the  fathers.  We  resisted,  and  still 
resist,  your  innovation;  and  thence  comes  the  greater 
prominence  of  the  question.  Would  you  have  that 
question  reduced  to  its  former  proportions  ?  Go  back 
to  that  old  policy.  What  has  been  will  be  again, 
under  the  same  conditions.  If  you  would  have  the 
peace  of  the  old  times,  readopt  the  precepts  and  policy 
of  the  old  times. 

You  charge  that  we  stir  up  insurrections  among  your 
slaves.  We  deny  it ;  and  what  is  your  proof?  Harper's 
Ferry !  John  Brown ! !  John  Brown  was  no  Republi 
can;  and  you  have  failed  to  implicate  a  single  Republi 
can  in  his  Harper's  Ferry  enterprise.  If  any  member 
of  our  party  is  guilty  in  that  matter,  you  know  it  or 
you  do  not  know  it.  If  you  do  know  it,  you  are  in 
excusable  for  not  designating  the  man  and  proving 
the  fact.  If  you  do  not  know  it,  you  are  inexcusable 
for  asserting  it,  and  especially  for  persisting  in  the 
assertion  after  you  have  tried  and  failed  to  make  the 
proof.  You  need  not  be  told  that  persisting  in  a 
charge  which  one  does  not  know  to  be  true,  is  simply 
malicious  slander.  (26) 


Address  255 

Some  of  you  admit  that  no  Republican  designedly 
aided  or  encouraged  the  Harper's  Ferry  affair;  but 
still  insist  that  our  doctrines  and  declarations  neces 
sarily  lead  to  such  results.  We  do  not  believe  it. 
We  know  we  hold  to  no  doctrine,  and  make  no  de 
claration,  which  was  not  held  to  and  made  by  "our 
fathers  who  framed  the  Government  under  which  we 
live."  You  never  dealt  fairly  by  us  in  relation  to 
this  affair.  When  it  occurred,  some  important  State 
elections  were  near  at  hand,  and  you  were  in  evident 
glee  with  the  belief  that,  by  charging  the  blame  upon 
us,  you  could  get  an  advantage  of  us  in  those  elections. 
The  elections  came,  and  your  expectations  were  not 
quite  fulfilled.  Every  Republican  man  knew  that, 
as  to  himself  at  least,  your  charge  was  a  slander,  and 
he  was  not  much  inclined  by  it  to  cast  his  vote  in 
your  favor.  Republican  doctrines  and  declarations 
are  accompanied  with  a  continual  protest  against 
any  interference  whatever  with  your  slaves,  or  with 
you  about  your  slaves.  Surely,  this  does  not  en 
courage  them  to  revolt.  True,  we  do,  in  common 
with  "our  fathers,  who  framed  the  Government 
under  which  we  live, "  declare  our  belief  that  slavery 
is  wrong;  but  the  slaves  do  not  hear  us  declare  even 
this.  For  anything  we  say  or  do,  the  slaves  would 
scarcely  know  there  is  a  Republican  party.  I  be 
lieve  they  would  not,  in  fact,  generally  know  it  but 
for  your  misrepresentations  of  us,  in  their  hearing.  In 
your  political  contests  among  yourselves,  each  faction 


256  Appendix 

charges  the  other  with  sympathy  with  Black  Re 
publicanism;  and  then,  to  give  point  to  the  charge, 
defines  Black  Republicanism  to  simply  be  insurrec 
tion,  blood  and  thunder  among  the  slaves. 

Slave  insurrections  are  no  more  common  now  than 
they  were  before  the  Republican  party  was  organized. 
What  induced  the  Southampton  insurrection,  twenty- 
eight  years  ago,  in  which,  at  least,  three  times  as 
many  lives  were  lost  as  at  Harper's  Ferry?  (27)  You 
can  scarcely  stretch  your  very  elastic  fancy  to  the 
conclusion  that  Southampton  was  "  got  up  by 
Black  Republicanism."  In  the  present  state  of 
things  in  the  United  States,  I  do  not  think  a  general,  or 
even  a  very  extensive  slave  insurrection,  is  possible. 
The  indispensable  concert  of  action  cannot  be  attained. 
The  slaves  have  no  means  of  rapid  communication ;  nor 
can  incendiary  freemen,  black  or  white,  supply  it. 
The  explosive  materials  are  everywhere  in  parcels; 
but  there  neither  are,  nor  can  be  supplied,  the  indis 
pensable  connecting  trains. 

Much  is  said  by  Southern  people  about  the  affec 
tion  of  slaves  for  their  masters  and  mistresses ;  and  a 
part  of  it,  at  least,  is  true.  A  plot  for  an  uprising 
could  scarcely  be  devised  and  communicated  to 
twenty  individuals  before  some  one  of  them,  to  save  the 
life  of  a  favorite  master  or  mistress,  would  divulge  it. 
This  is  the  rule ;  and  the  slave  revolution  in  Hayti  was 
not  an  exception  to  it,  but  a  case  occurring  under 
peculiar  circumstances.  (28)  The  gunpowder  plot  of 


Address  257 

British  history,  though  not  connected  with  slaves, 
was  more  in  point.  In  that  case,  only  about  twenty 
were  admitted  to  the  secret;  and  yet  one  of  them,  in 
his  anxiety  to  save  a  friend,  betrayed  the  plot  to  that 
friend,  and,  by  consequence,  averted  the  calamity. 
Occasional  poisonings  from  the  kitchen,  and  open  or 
stealthy  assassinations  in  the  field,  and  local  revolts 
extending  to  a  score  or  so,  will  continue  to  occur  as 
the  natural  results  of  slavery ;  but  no  general  insurrec 
tion  of  slaves,  as  I  think,  can  happen  in  this  country 
for  a  long  time.  Whoever  much  fears,  or  much  hopes 
for  such  an  event,  will  be  alike  disappointed. 

In  the  language  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  uttered  many  years 
ago,  "  It  is  still  in  our  power  to  direct  the  process  of 
emancipation,  and  deportation,  peaceably,  and  in 
such  slow  degrees,  as  that  the  evil  will  wear  off 
insensibly;  and  their  places  be,  pari  passu,  filled  up  by 
free  white  laborers.  If,  on  the  contrary,  it  is  left 
to  force  itself  on,  human  nature  must  shudder  at  the 
prospect  held  up."  (29) 

Mr.  Jefferson  did  not  mean  to  say,  nor  do  I,  that 
the  power  of  emancipation  is  in  the  Federal  Govern 
ment.  He  spoke  of  Virginia;  and,  as  to  the  power  of 
emancipation,  I  speak  of  the  slaveholding  States  only. 
The  Federal  Government,  however,  as  we  insist,  has 
the  power  of  restraining  the  extension  of  the  institu 
tion — the  power  to  insure  that  a  slave  insurrection 
shall  never  occur  on  any  American  soil  which  is  now 

free  from  slavery. 
17 


258  Appendix 

John  Brown's  effort  was  peculiar.  It  was  not  a 
slave  insurrection.  It  was  an  attempt  by  white  men 
to  get  up  a  revolt  among  slaves,  in  which  the  slaves 
refused  to  participate.  In  fact,  it  was  so  absurd  that 
the  slaves,  with  all  their  ignorance,  saw  plainly  enough 
it  could  not  succeed.  That  affair,  in  its  philosophy, 
corresponds  with  the  many  attempts,  related  in 
history,  at  the  assassination  of  kings  and  emperors. 
An  enthusiast  broods  over  the  oppression  of  a  people 
till  he  fancies  himself  commissioned  by  Heaven  to 
liberate  them.  He  ventures  the  attempt,  which 
ends  in  little  else  than  his  own  execution.  Orsini's 
attempt  on  Louis  Napoleon,  and  John  Brown's  at 
tempt  at  Harper's  Ferry  were,  in  their  philosophy, 
precisely  the  same.  The  eagerness  to  cast  blame  on 
old  England  in  the  one  case,  and  on  New  England  in 
the  other,  does  not  disprove  the  sameness  of  the  two 
things. 

And  how  much  would  it  avail  you,  if  you  could,  by 
the  use  of  John  Brown,  Helper's  Book,  and  the  like, 
break  up  the  Republican  organization?  Human 
action  can  be  modified  to  some  extent,  but  human 
nature  cannot  be  changed.  There  is  a  judgment  and  a 
feeling  against  slavery  in  this  nation,  which  cast  at 
least  a  million  and  a  half  of  votes.  You  cannot 
destroy  that  judgment  and  feeling — that  sentiment — 
by  breaking  up  the  political  organization  which  rallies 
around  it.  You  can  scarcely  scatter  and  disperse  an 
army  which  has  been  formed  into  order  in  the  face  of 


Address  259 

your  heaviest  fire;  but  if  you  could,  how  much  would 
you  gain  by  forcing  the  sentiment  which  created  it 
out  of  the  peaceful  channel  of  the  ballot-box,  into 
some  other  channel  ?  What  would  that  other  channel 
probably  be  ?  Would  the  number  of  John  Browns  be 
lessened  or  enlarged  by  the  operation? 

But  you  will  break  up  the  Union  rather  than  submit 
to  a  denial  of  your  Constitutional  rights.  (30) 

That  has  a  somewhat  reckless  sound;  but  it  would 
be  palliated,  if  not  fully  justified,  were  we  proposing, 
by  the  mere  force  of  numbers,  to  deprive  you  of  some 
right,  plainly  written  down  in  the  Constitution.  But 
we  are  proposing  no  such  thing. 

When  you  make  these  declarations,  you  have  a 
specific  and  well-understood  allusion  to  an  assumed 
Constitutional  right  of  yours,  to  take  slaves  into  the 
federal  territories,  and  to  hold  them  there  as  property. 
But  no  such  right  is  specifically  written  in  the  Constitu 
tion.  That  instrument  is  literally  silent  about  any 
such  right.  We,  on  the  contrary,  deny  that  such  a 
right  has  any  existence  in  the  Constitution,  even  by 
implication. 

Your  purpose,  then,  plainly  stated,  is,  that  you  will 
destroy  the  Government,  unless  you  be  allowed  to 
construe  and  enforce  the  Constitution  as  you  please, 
on  all  points  in  dispute  between  you  and  us.  You 
will  rule  or  ruin  in  all  events. 

This,  plainly  stated,  is  your  language.  Perhaps 
you  will  say  the  Supreme  Court  has  decided  the 


260  Appendix 

disputed  Constitutional  question  in  your  favor.  Not 
quite  so.  But  waiving  the  lawyer's  distinction 
between  dictum  and  decision,  the  Court  have  decided 
the  question  for  you  in  a  sort  of  way.  The  Court 
have  substantially  said,  it  is  your  Constitutional  right 
to  take  slaves  into  the  federal  territories,  and  to  hold 
them  there  as  property.  When  I  say  the  decision  was 
made  in  a  sort  of  way,  I  mean  it  was  made  in  a  divided 
Court,  by  a  bare  majority  of  the  Judges,  and  they  not 
quite  agreeing  with  one  another  in  the  reasons  for 
making  it;  (31)  that  it  is  so  made  as  that  its  avowed 
supporters  disagree  with  one  another  about  its  mean 
ing,  and  that  it  was  mainly  based  upon  a  mistaken 
statement  of  fact — the  statement  in  the  opinion  that 
"the  right  of  property  in  a  slave  is  distinctly  and 
expressly  affirmed  in  the  Constitution."  (32) 

An  inspection  of  the  Constitution  will  show  that 
the  right  of  property  in  a  slave  is  not  "  distinctly  and 
expressly  affirmed"  in  it.  Bear  in  mind,  the  Judges 
do  not  pledge  their  judicial  opinion  that  such  right  is 
impliedly  affirmed  in  the  Constitution;  but  they 
pledge  their  veracity  that  it  is  "distinctly  and  ex 
pressly"  affirmed  there — "distinctly,"  that  is,  not 
mingled  with  anything  else — "expressly,"  that  is,  in 
words  meaning  just  that,  without  the  aid  of  any  in 
ference,  and  susceptible  of  no  other  meaning. 

If  they  had  only  pledged  their  judicial  opinion  that 
such  right  is  affirmed  in  the  instrument  by  implica 
tion,  it  would  be  open  to  others  to  show  that  neither 


Address  261 

the  word  "slave"  nor  "slavery"  is  to  be  found  in  the 
Constitution,  nor  the  word  "property"  even,  in 
any  connection  with  language  alluding  to  the  things 
slave,  or  slavery,  and  that  wherever  in  that  instru 
ment  the  slave  is  alluded  to,  he  is  called  a  "person"; 
— and  wherever  his  master's  legal  right  in  relation  to 
him  is  alluded  to,  it  is  spoken  of  as  "  service  or  labor 
which  may  be  due," — as  a  debt  payable  in  service  or 
labor.  (33)  Also,  it  would  be  open  to  show,  by  con 
temporaneous  history,  that  this  mode  of  alluding  to 
slaves  and  slavery,  instead  of  speaking  of  them,  was 
employed  on  purpose  to  exclude  from  the  Constitution 
the  idea  that  there  could  be  property  in  man. 

To  show  all  this,  is  easy  and  certain.  (34) 

When  this  obvious  mistake  of  the  Judges  shall  be 
brought  to  their  notice,  is  it  not  reasonable  to  expect 
that  they  will  withdraw  the  mistaken  statement,  and 
reconsider  the  conclusion  based  upon  it? 

And  then  it  is  to  be  remembered  that  "  our  fathers, 
who  framed  the  Government  under  which  we  live" — • 
the  men  who  made  the  Constitution — decided  this 
same  Constitutional  question  in  our  favor,  long  ago — • 
decided  it  without  division  among  themselves,  when 
making  the  decision;  without  division  among  them 
selves  about  the  meaning  of  it  after  it  was  made,  and, 
so  far  as  any  evidence  is  left,  without  basing  it  upon 
any  mistaken  statement  of  facts. 

Under  all  these  circumstances,  do  you  really  feel 
yourselves  justified  to  break  up  this  Government, 


262  Appendix 

unless  such  a  court  decision  as  yours  is,  shall  be  at 
once  submitted  to  as  a  conclusive  and  final  rule  of  poli 
tical  action?  But  you  will  not  abide  the  election  of  a 
Republican  President!  In  that  supposed  event,  you 
say,  you  will  destroy  the  Union;  and  then,  you  say, 
the  great  crime  of  having  destroyed  it  will  be  upon  us ! 
That  is  cool.  A  highwayman  holds  a  pistol  to  my  ear, 
and  mutters  through  his  teeth,  "Stand  and  deliver 
or  I  shall  kill  you,  and  then  you  will  be  a  murderer!" 

To  be  sure,  what  the  robber  demanded  of  me — my 
money — was  my  own ;  and  I  had  a  clear  right  to  keep 
it;  but  it  was  no  more  my  own  than  my  vote  is  my 
own;  and  the  threat  of  death  to  me,  to  extort  my 
money,  and  the  threat  of  destruction  to  the  Union, 
to  extort  my  vote,  can  scarcely  be  distinguished  in 
principle. 

A  few  words  now  to  Republicans.  //  is  exceedingly 
desirable  that  all  parts  of  this  great  Confederacy  shall 
be  at  peace  and  in  harmony,  one  with  another.  Let 
us  Republicans  do  our  part  to  have  it  so.  Even  though 
much  provoked,  let  us  do  nothing  through  passion  and 
ill  temper.  Even  though  the  Southern  people  will  not 
so  much  as  listen  to  us,  let  us  calmly  consider  their 
demands,  and  yield  to  them  if,  in  our  deliberate  view  of 
our  duty,  we  possibly  can.  (35)  Judging  by  all  they 
say  and  do,  and  by  the  subject  and  nature  of  their 
controversy  with  us,  let  us  determine,  if  we  can,  what 
will  satisfy  them. 

Will  they  be  satisfied  if  the  Territories  be  uncondi- 


Address  263 

tionally  surrendered  to  them?  We  know  they  will 
not.  In  all  their  present  complaints  against  us,  the 
Territories  are  scarcely  mentioned.  Invasions  and 
insurrections  are  the  rage  now.  Will  it  satisfy  them, 
if,  in  the  future,  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  invasions 
and  insurrections?  We  know  it  will  not.  We  so 
know,  because  we  know  we  never  had  anything  to 
do  with  invasions  and  insurrections;  and  yet  this 
total  abstaining  does  not  exempt  us  from  the  charge 
and  the  denunciation. 

The  question  recurs,  what  will  satisfy  them?  Simply 
this:  We  must  not  only  let  them  alone,  but  we  must, 
somehow,  convince  them  that  we  do  let  them  alone. 
This,  we  know  by  experience,  is  no  easy  task.  We  have 
been  so  trying  to  convince  them  from  the  very  begin 
ning  of  our  organization,  but  with  no  success.  In  all 
our  platforms  and  speeches  we  have  constantly 
protested  our  purpose  to  let  them  alone ;  but  this  has 
had  no  tendency  to  convince  them.  Alike  unavailing 
to  convince  them,  is  the  fact  that  they  have  never 
detected  a  man  of  us  in  any  attempt  to  disturb  them. 

These  natural,  and  apparently  adequate  means  all 
failing,  what  will  convince  them?  This,  and  this 
only ;  cease  to  call  slavery  wrong,  and  join  them  in  call 
ing  it  right.  And  this  must  be  done  thoroughly — 
done  in  acts  as  well  as  in  words.  Silence  will  not  be 
tolerated — we  must  place  ourselves  avowedly  with 
them.  Senator  Douglas's  new  sedition  law  must  be 
enacted  and  enforced,  suppressing  all  declarations 


264  Appendix 

that  slavery  is  wrong,  whether  made  in  politics, 
in  presses,  in  pulpits,  or  in  private.  We  must  arrest 
and  return  their  fugitive  slaves  with  greedy  pleasure. 
We  must  pull  down  our  Free  State  constitutions. 
The  whole  atmosphere  must  be  disinfected  from  all 
taint  of  opposition  to  slavery,  before  they  will  cease 
to  believe  that  all  their  troubles  proceed  from  us. 

I  am  quite  aware  they  do  not  state  their  case  pre 
cisely  in  this  way.  Most  of  them  would  probably  say 
to  us,  "  Let  us  alone,  do  nothing  to  us,  and  say  what 
you  please  about  slavery. "  But  we  do  let  them  alone 
— have  never  disturbed  them — so  that,  after  all,  it  is 
what  we  say,  which  dissatisfies  them.  They  will 
continue  to  accuse  us  of  doing,  until  we  cease  saying. 

I  am  also  aware  they  have  not,  as  yet,  in  terms, 
demanded  the  overthrow  of  our  Free-State  Constitu 
tions.  (36)  Yet  those  Constitutions  declare  the  wrong 
of  slavery,  with  more  solemn  emphasis,  than  do  all 
other  sayings  against  it;  and  when  all  these  other 
sayings  shall  have  been  silenced,  the  overthrow  of 
these  Constitutions  will  be  demanded,  and  nothing  be 
left  to  resist  the  demand.  It  is  nothing  to  the  con 
trary,  that  they  do  not  demand  the  whole  of  this  just 
now.  Demanding  what  they  do,  and  for  the  reason 
they  do,  they  can  voluntarily  stop  nowhere  short  of 
this  consummation.  Holding,  as  they  do,  that 
slavery  is  morally  right,  and  socially  elevating,  they 
cannot  cease  to  demand  a  full  national  recognition 
of  it,  as  a  legal  right,  and  a  social  blessing.  (37) 


Address  265 

Nor  can  we  justifiably  withhold  this  on  any  ground 
save  our  conviction  that  slavery  is  wrong.  If  slavery 
is  right,  all  words,  acts,  laws,  and  constitutions  against 
it,  are  themselves  wrong,  and  should  be  silenced,  and 
swept  away.  If  it  is  right,  we  cannot  justly  object 
to  its  nationality — its  universality ;  if  it  is  wrong,  they 
cannot  justly  insist  upon  its  extension — its  enlarge 
ment.  All  they  ask,  we  could  readily  grant,  if  we 
thought  slavery  right ;  all  we  ask,  they  could  as  readily 
grant,  if  they  thought  it  wrong.  (38)  Their  thinking 
it  right,  and  our  thinking  it  wrong,  is  the  precise  fact 
upon  which  depends  the  whole  controversy.  Think 
ing  it  right,  as  they  do,  they  are  not  to  blame  for 
desiring  its  full  recognition,  as  being  right;  but,  think 
ing  it  wrong,  as  we  do,  can  we  yield  to  them?  Can 
we  cast  our  votes  with  their  view,  and  against  our 
own?  In  view  of  our  moral,  social,  and  political 
responsibilities,  can  we  do  this? 

Wrong  as  we  think  slavery  is,  we  can  yet  afford  to 
let  it  alone  where  it  is,  because  that  much  is  due  to  the 
necessity  arising  from  its  actual  presence  in  the  nation ; 
but  can  we,  while  our  votes  will  prevent  it,  allow  it  to 
spread  into  the  National  Territories,  and  to  overrun 
us  here  in  these  Free  States?  If  our  sense  of  duty 
forbids  this,  then  let  us  stand  by  our  duty,  fearlessly 
and  effectively.  Let  us  be  diverted  by  none  of  those 
sophistical  contrivances  wherewith  we  are  so  indus 
triously  plied  and  belabored — contrivances  such  as 
groping  for  some  middle  ground  between  the  right 


266  Appendix 

and  the  wrong,  vain  as  the  search  for  a  man  who 
should  be  neither  a  living  man  nor  a  dead  man — such 
as  a  policy  of  "  don't  care"  on  a  question  about  which 
all  true  men  do  care — such  as  Union  appeals  beseech 
ing  true  Union  men  to  yield  to  Disunionists,  reversing 
the  divine  rule,  and  calling,  not  the  sinners,  but  the 
righteous  to  repentance — such  as  invocations  to 
Washington,  imploring  men  to  unsay  what  Washing 
ton  said,  and  undo  what  Washington  did. 

Neither  let  us  be  slandered  from  our  duty  by  false 
accusations  against  us,  nor  frightened  from  it  by 
menaces  of  destruction  to  the  Government  nor  of 
dungeons  to  ourselves.  LET  us  HAVE  FAITH  THAT 

RIGHT  MAKES  MIGHT,  AND  IN  THAT  FAITH,  LET  US, 
TO  THE  END,  DARE  TO  DO  OUR  DUTY  AS  WE  UNDER 
STAND  IT. 


NOTES 

NOTE  i. — The  Constitution  is  attested  September  17,  1787. 
It  was  ratified  by  all  of  the  States,  excepting  North  Carolina 
and  Rhode  Island,  in  1788,  and  went  into  operation  on  the 
first  Wednesday  in  January,  1789.  The  first  Congress  pro 
posed,  in  1789,  ten  articles  of  amendments,  all  of  which  were 
ratified.  Article  XL  of  the  amendments  was  prepared  by 
the  Third  Congress,  in  1794,  and  Article  XII.  by  the  Eighth 
Congress,  in  1803.  Another  Article  was  proposed  by  the 
Eleventh  Congress,  prohibiting  citizens  from  receiving  titles 
of  nobility,  presents  or  offices,  from  foreign  nations.  Although 
this  has  been  printed  as  one  of  the  amendments,  it  was  in 
fact  never  ratified,  being  approved  by  but  twelve  States. 
Vide  Message  of  President  Monroe,  Feb.  4,  1818. 

NOTE  2. — The  Convention  consisted  of  sixty-five  members. 
Of  these,  ten  did  not  attend  the  Convention,  and  sixteen  did 
not  sign  the  Constitution.  Of  these  sixteen,  six  refused  to 
sign,  and  published  their  reasons  for  so  refusing,  viz.:  Robert 
Yates  and  John  Lansing,  of  New- York;  Edmund  Randolph 
and  George  Mason,  of  Virginia;  Luther  Martin,  of  Maryland, 
and  Elbridge  Gerry,  of  Mass.  Alexander  Hamilton  alone 
subscribed  for  New- York,  and  Rhode  Island  was  not  repre 
sented  in  the  Convention.  The  names  of  the  "thirty-nine," 
and  the  States  which  they  represented  are  subsequently 
given. 

NOTE  3. — The  cession  of  Territory  was  authorized  by  New- 
York,  Feb.  19,  1780;  by  Virginia,  January  2,  1781,  and  again, 
(without  certain  conditions  at  first  imposed,)  "at  their  ses 
sions,  begun  on  the  2oth  day  of  October,  1783;"  by  Mass., 
Nov.  13,  1784;  by  Conn.,  May — ,  1786;  by  S.  Carolina,  March 
8,  1787;  by  N.  Carolina,  Dec.  — ,  1789;  and  by  Georgia  at 
some  time  prior  to  April,  1802. 

The  deeds  of  cession  were  executed  by  New- York,  March  i, 
267 


268  Appendix 

1781;  by  Virginia,  March  i,  1784;  by  Mass.,  April  19,  1785; 
by  Conn.,  Sept.  13,  1786;  by  S.  Carolina,  August  9,  1787; 
by  N.  Carolina,  Feb.  25,  1790;  and  by  Georgia,  April  24,  1802. 
Five  of  these  grants  were  therefore  made  before  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  and  one  afterward;  while  the  sixth  (North 
Carolina)  was  authorized  before,  and  consummated  after 
ward.  The  cession  of  this  State  contains  the  express  proviso 
"that  no  regulations  made,  or  to  be  made  by  Congress,  shall 
tend  to  emancipate  slaves."  The  cession  of  Georgia  conveys 
the  Territory  subject  to  the  Ordinance  of  '87,  except  the 
provision  prohibiting  slavery. 

These  dates  are  also  interesting  in  connection  with  the 
extraordinary  assertions  of  Chief  Justice  Taney,  (19  How., 
page  434,)  that  "the  example  of  Virginia  was  soon  afterwards 
followed  by  other  States,"  and  that  (p.  436)  the  power  in 
the  Constitution  "to  dispose  of  and  make  all  needful  rules 
and  regulations  respecting  the  Territory  or  other  property 
belonging  to  the  United  States,"  was  intended  only  "to 
transfer  to  the  new  Government  the  property  then  held  in 
common,"  "and  has  no  reference  whatever  to  any  Territory 
or  other  property  which  the  new  sovereignty  might  after 
wards  itself  acquire."  On  this  subject,  vide  Federalist, 
No.  43,  sub.  4  and  5. 

NOTE  4. — Sherman  was  from  Connecticut;  Mifflin  from 
Penn.;  Williamson  from  North  Carolina,  and  M'Henry  from 
Maryland. 

NOTE  5. — What  Mr.  M'Henry's  views  were,  it  seems  im 
possible  to  ascertain.  When  the  Ordinance  of  '87  was  passed 
he  was  sitting  in  the  Convention.  He  was  afterwards  ap 
pointed  Secretary  of  War;  yet  no  record  has  thus  far  been 
discovered  of  his  opinion.  Mr.  M'Henry  also  wrote  a  bio 
graphy  of  La  Fayette,  which,  however,  cannot  be  found  in 
any  of  the  public  libraries,  among  which  may  be  mentioned 
the  State  Library  at  Albany,  and  the  Astor,  Society,  and 
Historical  Society  Libraries,  at  New  York. 

Hamilton  says  of  him,  in  a  letter  to  Washington  (Works, 
vol.  vi.,  p.  65):  "M'Henry  you  know.  He  would  give  no 
strength  to  the  Administration,  but  he  would  not  disgrace 
the  office;  his  views  are  good." 

NOTE  6. — William  Blount  was  from  North  Carolina,  and 


Notes  269 

William  Few  from  Georgia — the  two  States  which  afterward 
ceded  their  Territory  to  the  United  States.  In  addition 
to  these  facts  the  following  extract  from  the  speech  of  Rufus 
King  in  the  Senate,  on  the  Missouri  Bill,  shows  the  entire 
unanimity  with  which  the  Southern  States  approved  the 
prohibition : 

"The  State  of  Virginia,  which  ceded  to  the  United  States 
her  claims  to  this  Territory,  consented,  by  her  delegates  in 
the  Old  Congress,  to  this  Ordinance.  Not  only  Virginia, 
but  North  Carolina,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  by  the 
unanimous  votes  of  their  delegates  in  the  Old  Congress, 
approved  of  the  Ordinance  of  1787,  by  which  Slavery  is 
forever  abolished  in  the  Territory  northwest  of  the  river 
Ohio.  Without  the  votes  of  these  States,  the  Ordinance 
could  not  have  been  passed;  and  there  is  no  recollection  of 
an  opposition  from  any  of  these  States  to  the  act  of  con 
firmation  passed  under  the  actual  Constitution. 

NOTE  7. — "The  famous  Ordinance  of  Congress  of  the  i3th 
July,  i  787,  which  has  ever  since  constituted,  in  most  respects, 
the  model  of  all  our  territorial  governments,  and  is  equally 
remarkable  for  the  brevity  and  exactness  of  its  text,  and 
for  its  masterly  display  of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty." — Justice  Story,  i  Commentaries: 

§1312. 

"It  is  well  known  that  the  Ordinance  of  1787  was  drawn 
by  the  Hon.  Nathan  Dane,  of  Massachusetts,  and  adopted 
with  scarcely  a  verbal  alteration  by  Congress.  It  is  a  noble 
and  imperishable  monument  to  his  fame." — Id.  note. 

The  ordinance  was  reported  by  a  committee,  of  which 
Wm.  S.  Johnson  and  Charles  Pinckney  were  members.  It 
recites  that,  "for  extending  the  fundamental  principles  of 
civil  and  religious  liberty,  which  form  the  basis  whereon 
these  republics,  their  laws  and  constitutions,  are  erected; 
to  fix  and  establish  those  principles  as  the  basis  of  all  laws, 
constitutions,  and  governments  which  forever  hereafter  shall 
be  formed  in  the  said  Territory;  to  provide  also  for  the  estab 
lishment  of  States  and  permanent  government,  and  for  their 
admission  to  a  share  in  the  federal  councils,  on  an  equal 
footing  with  the  original  States,  at  as  early  periods  as  may 
be  consistent  with  the  general  interest — 


270  Appendix 

"It  is  hereby  ordained  and  declared,  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  the  following  articles  shall  be  considered 
as  articles  of  compact  between  the  original  States  and  the 
people  and  States  in  the  said  Territory,  and  forever  remain 
unalterable,  unless  by  common  consent,  to  wit:"  •  •  •  • 

"Art.  6.  There  shall  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary 
servitude  in  the  said  Territory  otherwise  than  in  the  pun 
ishment  of  crimes  whereof  the  party  shall  have  been  duly 
convicted;  provided  always  that  any  person  escaping  into 
the  same,  from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed 
in  any  one  of  the  original  States,  such  fugitive  may  be  law 
fully  reclaimed,  and  conveyed  to  the  person  claiming  his 
or  her  labor  or  service." 

On  passing  the  ordinance,  the  ayes  and  nays  were  required 
by  Judge  Yates,  of  New  York,  when  it  appeared  that  his 
was  the  only  vote  in  the  negative. 

The  ordinance  of  April  23,  1784,  was  a  brief  outline  of 
that  of  '87.  It  was  reported  by  a  Committee,  of  which 
Mr.  Jefferson  was  chairman,  and  the  report  contained  a 
slavery  prohibition  intended  to  take  effect  in  1800.  This 
was  stricken  out  of  the  report,  six  States  voting  to  retain 
it — three  voting  to  strike  out — one  being  divided  (N.  C.), 
and  the  others  not  being  represented.  (The  assent  of  nine 
States  was  necessary  to  retain  any  provision.)  And  this 
is  the  vote  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  But  subsequently, 
March  1 6,  1785,  a  motion  was  made  by  Ruftis  King  to  commit 
a  proposition  "that  there  be  neither  slavery  nor  involuntary 
servitude"  in  any  of  the  Territories;  which  was  carried  by 
the  vote  of  eight  States,  including  Maryland. — Journal  Am. 
Congress,  vol.  4,  pp.  373,  380,  481,  752. 

When,  therefore,  the  ordinance  of  '87  came  before  Con 
gress,  on  its  final  passage,  the  subject  of  slavery  prohibition 
had  been  "agitated  "  for  nearly  three  years;  and  the  deliberate 
and  almost  unanimous  vote  of  that  body  upon  that  question 
leaves  no  room  to  doubt  what  the  fathers  believed,  and  how, 
in  that  belief,  they  acted. 

NOTE  8. — It  singularly  and  fortunately  happens  that  one 
of  the  "thirty -nine,"  "while  engaged  on  that  instrument," 
viz.,  while  advocating  its  ratification  before  the  Pennsylvania 
Convention,  did  express  an  opinion  upon  this  "precise  ques- 


Notes  [271 

tion,"  which  opinion  was  never  disputed  or  doubted,  in  that 
or  any  other  Convention,  and  was  accepted  by  the  opponents 
of  the  Constitution,  as  an  indisputable  fact.  This  was  the 
celebrated  James  Wilson,  of  Pennsylvania.  The  opinion 
is  as  follows : — 

MONDAY,  Dec.  3,  1787. 

"With  respect  to  the  clause  restricting  Congress  from 
prohibiting  the  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons 
as  any  of  the  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit, 
prior  to  the  year  1808:  The  Hon.  gentleman  says  that  this 
clause  is  not  only  dark,  but  intended  to  grant  to  Congress, 
for  that  time,  the  power  to  admit  the  importation  of  slaves. 
No  such  thing  was  intended;  but  I  will  tell  you  what  was 
done,  and  it  gives  me  high  pleasure  that  so  much  was  done. 
Under  the  present  Confederation,  the  States  may  admit 
the  importation  of  slaves  as  long  as  they  please;  but  by 
this  article,  after  the  year  1808,  the  Congress  will  have 
power  to  prohibit  such  importation,  notwithstanding  the 
disposition  of  any  State  to  the  contrary.  I  consider  this 
as  laying  the  foundation  for  banishing  slavery  out  of  this 
country ;  and  though  the  period  is  more  distant  than  I  could 
wish,  yet  it  will  produce  the  same  kind,  gradual  change  which 
was  pursued  in  Pennsylvania.  It  is  with  much  satisfaction 
that  I  view  this  power  in  the  general  government,  whereby 
they  may  lay  an  interdiction  on  this  reproachful  trade. 
But  an  immediate  advantage  is  also  obtained;  for  a  tax  or 
duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importation,  not  exceeding 
$10  for  each  person;  and  this,  sir,  operates  as  a  partial  pro 
hibition;  it  was  all  that  could  be  obtained.  I  am  sorry  it 
was  no  more;  but  from  this  I  think  there  is  reason  to  hope 
that  yet  a  few  years,  and  it  will  be  prohibited  altogether. 
And  in  the  meantime,  the  new  States  which  are  to  be  formed 
will  be  under  the  control  of  Congress  in  this  particular,  and 
slaves  will  never  be  introduced  amongst  them." — 2  Elliott's 
Debates,  423. 

It  was  argued  by  Patrick  Henry  in  the  Convention  in 
Virginia,  as  follows: 

"May  not  Congress  enact  that  every  black  man  must 
fight?  Did  we  not  see  a  little  of  this  in  the  last  war?  We 
were  not  so  hard  pushed  as  to  make  emancipation  general. 


272  Appendix 

But  acts  of  Assembly  passed,  that  every  slave  who  would  go 
to  the  army  should  be  free.  Another  thing  will  contribute  to 
bring  this  event  about.  Slavery  is  detested.  We  feel  its 
fatal  effects.  We  deplore  it  with  all  the  pity  of  humanity. 
Let  all  these  considerations  press  with  full  force  on  the  minds 
of  Congress.  Let  that  urbanity  which,  I  trust,  will  distin 
guish  America,  and  the  necessity  of  national  defence — let 
all  these  things  operate  on  their  minds,  they  will  search 
that  paper,  and  see  if  they  have  power  of  manumission. 
And  have  they  not,  sir?  Have  they  not  power  to  provide 
for  the  general  defence  and  welfare?  May  they  not  think 
that  these  call  for  the  abolition  of  slavery?  May  they  not 
pronounce  all  slaves  free,  and  will  they  not  be  warranted 
by  that  power?  There  is  no  ambiguous  implication,  no 
logical  deduction.  The  paper  speaks  to  the  point;  they 
have  the  power  in  clear,  unequivocal  terms,  and  will  clearly 
and  certainly  exercise  it." — 3  Elliott's  Debates,  534. 

Edmund  Randolph,  one  of  the  framers  of  the  Constitution, 
replied  to  Mr.  Henry,  admitting  the  general  force  of  the 
argument,  but  claiming  that,  because  of  other  provisions, 
it  had  no  application  to  the  States  where  slavery  then  existed ; 
thus  conceding  that  power  to  exist  in  Congress  as  to  all 
territory  belonging  to  the  United  States. 

Dr.  Ramsay,  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  South 
Carolina,  in  his  history  of  the  United  States,  vol.  3,  pages 
36,  37,  says:  "Under  these  liberal  principles,  Congress,  in 
organizing  colonies,  bound  themselves  to  impart  to  their 
inhabitants  all  the  privileges  of  coequal  States,  as  soon  as 
they  were  capable  of  enjoying  them.  In  their  infancy, 
government  was  administered  for  them  without  any  expense. 
As  soon  as  they  should  have  60,000  inhabitants,  they  were 
authorized  to  call  a  convention,  and,  by  common  consent, 
to  form  their  own  constitution.  This  being  done,  they 
were  entitled  to  representation  in  Congress,  and  every  right 
attached  to  the  original  States.  These  privileges  are  not 
confined  to  any  particular  country  or  complexion.  They 
are  communicable  to  the  emancipated  slave  (for  in  the 
new  State  of  Ohio,  slavery  is  altogether  prohibited) ,  to  the 
copper-colored  native,  and  all  other  human  beings  who, 
after  a  competent  residence  and  degree  of  civilization, 


Notes  273 


are  capable  of  enjoying  the  blessings  of  regular  govern 
ment." 

NOTE  9. — The  Act  of  1789,  as  reported  by  the  Committee, 
was  received  and  read  Thursday,  July  i6th.  The  second 
reading  was  on  Friday,  the  i  yth,  when  it  was  committed 
to  the  Committee  of  the  whole  house,  "on  Monday  next." 
On  Monday,  July  2oth,  it  was  considered  in  Committee  of 
the  whole,  and  ordered  to  a  third  reading  on  the  following 
day;  on  the  2ist,  it  passed  the  House,  and  was  sent  to  the 
Senate.  In  the  Senate  it  had  its  first  reading  on  the  same 
day,  and  was  ordered  to  a  second  reading  on  the  following 
day  (July  22d),  and  on  the  4th  of  August  it  passed,  and 
on  the  7th  was  approved  by  the  President. 

NOTE  10. — The  "sixteen"  represented  these  States:  Lang- 
don  and  Oilman,  New  Hampshire;  Sherman  and  Johnson, 
Connecticut;  Morris,  Fitzsimmons,  and  Clymer,  Pennsyl 
vania;  King,  Massachusetts;  Paterson,  New  Jersey;  Few 
and  Baldwin,  Georgia;  Bassett  and  Read,  Delaware;  Butler, 
South  Carolina;  Carroll,  Maryland;  and  Madison,  Virginia 

NOTE  ii. — Vide  note  3,  ante. 

NOTE  12. — Chap.  28,  §  7,  U.  S.  Statutes,  5th  Congress, 
2d  Session. 

NOTE  13. — Langdon  was  from  New  Hampshire,  Read  from 
Delaware,  and  Baldwin  from  Georgia. 

NOTE  14. — Chap.  38,  §  10,  U.  S.  Statutes,  8th  Congress, 
ist  Session. 

NOTE  15. — Baldwin  was  from  Georgia,  and  Dayton  from 
New  Jersey. 

NOTE  1 6. — Rufus  King,  who  sat  in  the  old  Congress,  and 
also  in  the  Convention,  as  the  representative  of  Massa 
chusetts,  removed  to  New  York  and  was  sent  by  that  State 
to  the  U.  S.  Senate  of  the  first  Congress.  Charles  Pinckney 
was  in  the  House,  as  a  representative  of  South  Carolina. 

NOTE  17. — Although  Mr.  Pinckney  opposed  "slavery 
prohibition"  in  1820,  yet  his  views,  with  regard  to  the  powers 
of  the  general  government,  may  be  better  judged  by  his 
actions  in  the  Convention : 

FRIDAY,  June  Sth,  1787. — "Mr.  Pinckney  moved  'that 
the  National  Legislature  shall  have  the  power  of  negativing 
18 


274  Appendix 


all  laws  to  be  passed  by  the  State  Legislatures,  which  they 
may  judge  improper,'  in  the  room  of  the  clause  as  it  stood 
reported. 

"He  grounds  his  motion  on  the  necessity  of  one  supreme 
controlling  power,  and  he  considers  this  as  the  corner-stone 
of  the  present  system;  and  hence  the  necessity  of  retrenching 
the  State  authorities,  in  order  to  preserve  the  good  govern 
ment  of  the  national  council." — T.  400,  Elliott'' s  Debates. 

And  again,  THURSDAY,  August  2$d,  1787,  Mr.  Pinckney 
renewed  the  motion  with  some  modifications. — T.  1409. 
Madison  Papers. 

And  although  Mr.  Pinckney,  as  correctly  stated  by  Mr. 
Lincoln,  "steadily  voted  against  slavery  prohibition,  and 
against  all  compromises,"  he  still  regaroed  the  passage  of 
the  Missouri  Compromise  as  a  great  triumph  of  the  South, 
which  is  apparent  from  the  following  letter: 

CONGRESS  HALL,  March  2d,  1820,  3  o'clock  at  night. 

DEAR  SIR: — I  hasten  to  inform  you,  that  this  moment 
WE  have  carried  the  question  to  admit  Missouri,  and  all 
Louisiana  to  the  southward  of  36°  30',  free  from  the  restric 
tion  of  slavery,  and  give  the  South,  in  a  short  time,  an 
addition  of  six,  perhaps  eight,  members  to  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States.  It  is  considered  here  by  the  slaveholding 
States  as  a  great  triumph. 

The  votes  were  close — ninety  to  eighty-six — produced  by 
the  seceding  and  absence  of  a  few  moderate  men  from  the 
North.  To  the  north  of  3  6°  30,'  there  is  to  be,  by  the  present 
law,  restriction;  which  you  will  see  by  the  votes,  I  voted 
against.  But  it  is  at  present  of  no  moment;  it  is  a  vast 
tract,  uninhabited,  only  by  savages  and  wild  beasts,  in 
which  not  a  foot  of  the  Indian  claims  to  soil  is  extinguished, 
and  in  which,  according  to  the  ideas  prevalent,  no  land  of 
fice  will  be  opened  for  a  great  length  of  time. 

With  respect,  your  obedient  servant, 

CHARLES  PINCKNEY. 

But  conclusive  evidence  of  Mr.  Pinckney's  views  is  fur 
nished  in  the  fact  that  he  was  himself  a  member  of  the  Com 
mittee  which  reported  the  Ordinance  of  '87,  and  that  on  every 
occasion ,  when  it  was  under  the  consideration  of  Congress,  he 
voted  against  all  amendments. — Jour. Am.  Congress,  Sept.  agth, 


Notes  275 

1786.  Oct.  4th.  When  the  ordinance  came  up  for  its  final 
passage,  Mr.  Pinckney  was  sitting  in  the  Convention,  and 
did  not  take  any  part  in  the  proceedings  of  Congress. 

NOTE  1 8. — By  reference  to  notes  4,  6,  10,  13,  15,  and  16 
it  will  be  seen  that,  of  the  twenty-three  who  acted  upon 
the  question  of  prohibition,  twelve  were  from  the  present 
slaveholding  States. 

NOTE  19. — Vide  notes  5  and  17,  ante. 

NOTE  20. — "The  remaining  sixteen"  were  Nathaniel  Gor- 
ham,  Massachusetts;  Alex.  Hamilton,  New  York;  William 
Livingston  and  David  Brearly,  New  Jersey;  Benjamin  Frank 
lin,  Jared  Ingersoll,  James  Wilson,  and  Gouverneur  Morris, 
Pennsylvania;  Gunning  Bedford,  John  Dickinson,  and  Jacob 
Broom,  Delaware;  Daniel,  of  St.  Thomas,  Jenifer,  Maryland; 
John  Blair,  Virginia ;  Richard  Dobbs  Spaight,  North  Carolina ; 
and  John  Rutledge  and  Charles  Cotesworth  Pinckney,  South 
Carolina. 

NOTE  21. — "The  only  distinction  between  freedom  and 
slavery  consists  in  this:  in  the  former  state,  a  man  is  gov 
erned  by  the  laws  to  which  he  has  given  his  consent,  either 
in  person  or  by  his  representative;  in  the  latter,  he  is  gov 
erned  by  the  will  of  another.  In  the  one  case,  his  life  and 
property  are  his  own;  in  the  other,  they  depend  upon  the 
pleasure  of  a  master.  It  is  easy  to  discern  which  of  the 
two  states  is  preferable.  No  man  in  his  senses  can  hesitate 
in  choosing  to  be  free  rather  than  slave.  .  .  .  Were  not 
the  disadvantages  of  slavery  too  obvious  to  stand  in  need 
of  it,  I  might  enumerate  and  describe  the  tedious  train  of 
calamities  inseparable  from  it.  I  might  show  that  it  is 
fatal  to  religion  and  morality;  that  it  tends  to  debase  the 
mind,  and  corrupt  its  noblest  springs  of  action.  I  might 
show  that  it  relaxes  the  sinews  of  industry  and  clips  the 
wings  of  commerce,  and  works  misery  and  indigence  in 
every  shape." — HAMILTON,  Works,  vol.  2,  pp.  3,  9. 

"That  you  will  be  pleased  to  countenance  the  restoration 
of  liberty  to  those  unhappy  men,  who,  alone  in  this  land  of 
freedom,  are  degraded  into  perpetual  bondage,  and  who, 
amidst  the  general  joy  of  surrounding  freemen,  are  groaning 
in  servile  subjection;  that  you  will  devise  means  for  removing 


2  76  Appendix 

this  inconsistency  from  the  character  of  the  American  people; 
that  you  will  promote  mercy  and  justice  toward  this  dis 
tressed  race;  and  that  you  will  step  to  the  very  verge  of  the 
power  vested  in  you  for  discouraging  every  species  of  traffic 
in  the  persons  of  our  fellow-men." — Philadelphia,  Feb.  3rd, 
1790.  Franklin's  Petition  to  Congress  for  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery. 

Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris  said:  "He  never  would  concur 
in  upholding  domestic  slavery.  It  was  a  notorious  insti 
tution.  It  was  the  curse  of  heaven  on  the  States  where 
it  prevailed.  .  .  .  The  admission  of  slavery  into  the  repre 
sentation,  when  fairly  explained,  comes  to  this — that  the 
inhabitant  of  South  Carolina  or  Georgia,  who  goes  to  the 
coast  of  Africa,  and,  in  defiance  of  the  most  sacred  laws 
of  humanity,  tears  away  his  fellow-creatures  from  their 
dearest  connections,  and  damns  them  to  the  most  cruel 
bondage,  shall  have  more  votes,  in  a  government  instituted 
for  the  protection  of  the  rights  of  mankind,  than  the  citizen 
of  Pennsylvania  or  New  Jersey,  who  views  with  a  laudable 
horror  so  notorious  a  practice.  .  .  .  He  would  sooner  sub 
mit  himself  to  a  tax  for  paying  for  all  the  negroes  in  the 
United  States  than  saddle  posterity  with  such  a  constitu 
tion." — Debate  on  Slave  Representation  in  the  Convention. 
Madison  Papers. 

NOTE  22. — An  eminent  jurist  (Chancellor  Walworth)  has 
said  that  "The  preamble  which  was  prefixed  to  these 
amendments,  as  adopted  by  Congress,  is  important  to  show 
in  what  light  that  body  considered  them."  (8  Wend.  R.t 
p.  100.)  It  declares  that  a  number  of  the  State  Conventions 
"having  at  the  time  of  their  adopting  the  Constitution 
expressed  a  desire,  in  order  to  prevent  misconstruction  or 
abuse  of  its  powers,  that  further  declaratory  and  restrictive 
clauses  should  be  added,"  resolved,  etc. 

This  preamble  is  in  substance  the  preamble  affixed  to  the 
"Conciliatory  Resolutions"  of  Massachusetts,  which  were 
drawn  by  Chief  Justice  Parsons,  and  offered  in  the  Conven 
tion  as  a  compromise  by  John  Hancock.  (Life  Ch.  J .  Parsons, 
p.  67.)  They  were  afterward  copied  and  adopted  with  some 
additions  by  New  Hampshire. 

The  fifth  amendment,  on  which  the  Supreme  Court  relies, 


Notes  277 

is  taken  almost  literally  from  the  declaration  of  rights  put 
forth  by  the  Convention  of  New  York,  and  the  clause  referred 
to  forms  the  ninth  paragraph  of  the  declaration.  The  tenth 
amendment,  on  which  Senator  Douglas  relies,  is  taken  from 
the  Conciliatory  Resolutions,  and  is  the  first  of  those  reso 
lutions  somewhat  modified.  Thus,  these  two  amendments, 
sought  to  be  used  for  slavery,  originated  in  the  two  great 
anti-slavery  States,  New  York  and  Massachusetts. 

NOTE  23. — The  amendments  were  proposed  by  Mr.  Madison 
in  the  House  of  Representatives,  June  8,  1789.  They  were 
adopted  by  the  House,  August  24,  and  some  further  amend 
ments  seem  to  have  been  transmitted  by  the  Senate,  Sep 
tember  9.  The  printed  journals  of  the  Senate  do  not  state 
the  time  of  the  final  passage,  and  the  message  transmitting 
them  to  the  State  Legislatures  speaks  of  them  as  adopted 
at  the  first  session,  begun  on  the  fourth  day  of  March,  1789. 
The  date  of  the  introduction  and  passage  of  the  act  enforcing 
the  Ordinance  of  '87  will  be  found  at  note  9,  ante. 

NOTE  24. — It  is  singular  that  while  two  of  the  "thirty- 
nine"  were  in  that  Congress  of  1819,  there  was  but  one 
(besides  Mr.  King)  of  the  "seventy-six."  The  one  was 
William  Smith,  of  South  Carolina.  He  was  then  a  Senator, 
and,  like  Mr.  Pinckney,  occupied  extreme  Southern  ground. 

NOTE  25. — The  following  is  an  extract  from  the  letter 
referred  to: 

"I  agree  with  you  cordially  in  your  views  in  regard  to 
negro  slavery.  I  have  long  considered  it  a  most  serious 
evil,  both  socially  and  politically,  and  I  should  rejoice  in 
any  feasible  scheme  to  rid  our  States  of  such  a  burden. 
The  Congress  of  1787  adopted  an  ordinance  which  prohibits 
the  existence  of  involuntary  servitude  in  our  Northwestern 
Territory  forever.  I  consider  it  a  wise  measure.  It  meets 
with  the  approval  and  assent  of  nearly  every  member  from 
the  States  more  immediately  interested  in  slave  labor.  The 
prevailing  opinion  in  Virginia  is  against  the  spread  of  slavery 
in  our  new  Territories,  and  I  trust  we  shall  have  a  confed 
eration  of  free  States." 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  Washington  to 
Robert  Morris,  April,  i2th,  1786,  shows  how  strong  were 
his  views,  and  how  clearly  he  deemed  emancipation  a 


278  Appendix 

subject  for  legislative  enactment:  "I  can  only  say  that  there 
is  no  man  living  who  wishes  more  sincerely  than  I  do  to 
see  a  plan  adopted  for  the  abolition  of  it;  but  there  is  but 
one  proper  and  effective  mode  by  which  it  can  be  accom 
plished,  and  that  is,  BY  LEGISLATIVE  AUTHORITY,  and  that, 
as  far  as  my  suffrage  will  go,  shall  never  be  wanting." 

NOTE  26. — A  Committee  of  five,  consisting  of  Messrs. 
Mason,  Davis,  and  Fitch  (Democrats),  and  Collamer  and 
Doolittle  (Republicans),  was  appointed  Dec.  14,  1859,  by 
the  U.  S.  Senate,  to  investigate  the  Harper's  Ferry  affair. 
That  Committee  was  directed,  among  other  things,  to  in 
quire:  (i)  "Whether  such  invasion  and  seizure  was  made 
under  color  of  any  organization  intended  to  subvert  the 
government  of  any  of  the  States  of  the  Union."  (2)  "What 
was  the  character  and  extent  of  such  organisation."  (3) 
And  whether  any  citizens  of  the  United  States,  not  present, 
were  implicated  therein,  or  accessory  thereto,  by  contributions 
of  money,  arms,  munitions,  or  otherwise." 

The  majority  of  the  Committee,  Messrs.  Mason,  Davis, 
and  Fitch,  reply  to  the  inquiries  as  follows: 

1.  "There  will   be  found  in  the     Appendix   a   copy  of 
the   proceedings   of   a   Convention  held  at  Chatham,    Can 
ada,  of  the  Provisional  Form  of  Government  there  pretended 
to  have   been   instituted,  the  object  of  which  clearly  was 
to  subvert  the  government   of   one   or    more   States,   and 
of  course,  to  that  extent,   the  government  of    the  United 
States."     By  reference  to  the  copy  of  Proceedings  it  appears 
that  nineteen  persons  were  present  at  that  Convention,  eight 
of  whom  were  either  killed  or  executed  at  Charlestown,  and 
one  examined  before  the  Committee. 

2.  "The  character  of  the  military  organization  appears, 
by  the  commissions  issued  to  certain  of  the  armed  party 
as  captains,  lieutenants,  etc.,  a  specimen  of  which  will  be 
found  in  the  Appendix." 

(These  Commissions  are  signed  by  John  Brown  as  Com- 
mander-in-Chief,  under  the  Provisional  Government,  and 
by  J.  H.  Kagi  as  Secretary.) 

"It  clearly  appeared  that  the  scheme  of  Brown  was  to 
take  with  him  comparatively  but  few  men;  but  those  had 
been  carefully  trained  by  military  instruction  previously, 


Notes  279 

and  were  to  act  as  officers.  For  his  military  force  he 
relied,  very  clearly,  on  inciting  insurrection  amongst  the 
Slaves." 

3.  "It  does  not  appear  that  the  contributions  were  made 
with  actual  knowledge  of  the  use  for  which  they  were 
designed  by  Brown,  although  it  dcjs  appear  that  money 
was  freely  contributed  by  those  styling  themselves  the 
friends  of  this  man  Brown,  and  friends  alike  of  what  they 
styled  the  cause  of  freedom  (of  which  they  claimed  him 
to  be  an  especial  apostle),  without  inquiring  as  to  the 
way  in  which  the  money  would  be  used  by  him  to  advance 
such  pretended  cause." 

In  concluding  the  report  the  majority  of  the  Committee 
thus  characterize  the  "invasion":  "It  was  simply  the  act 
of  lawless  ruffians,  under  the  sanction  of  no  public  or 
political  authority  —  distinguishable  only  from  ordinary 
felonies  by  the  ulterior  ends  in  contemplation  by  them,"  etc. 

NOTE  27. — The  Southampton  insurrection,  August,  1831, 
was  induced  by  the  remarkable  ability  of  a  slave  calling 
himself  General  Nat  Turner.  He  led  his  fellow  bondsmen 
to  believe  that  he  was  acting  under  the  order  of  Heaven. 
In  proof  of  this  he  alleged  that  the  singular  appearance 
of  the  sun  at  that  time  was  a  divine  signal  for  the  com 
mencement  of  the  struggle  which  would  result  in  the  recovery 
of  their  freedom.  This  insurrection  resulted  in  the  death 
of  sixty-four  white  persons,  and  more  than  one  hundred 
slaves.  The  Southampton  was  the  eleventh  large  insur 
rection  in  the  Southern  States,  besides  numerous  attempts 
and  revolts. 

NOTE  28. — In  March,  1790,  the  General  Assembly  of 
France,  on  the  petition  of  the  free  people  of  color  in  St. 
Domingo,  many  of  whom  were  intelligent  and  wealthy, 
passed  a  decree  intended  to  be  in  their  favor,  but  so  am 
biguous  as  to  be  construed  in  favor  of  both  the  whites  and 
the  blacks.  The  differences  growing  out  of  the  decree 
created  two  parties — the  whites  and  the  people  of  color; 
and  some  blood  was  shed.  In  1791,  the  blacks  again  peti 
tioned,  and  a  decree  was  passed  declaring  the  colored  people 
citizens,  who  were  born  of  free  parents  on  both  sides.  This 
produced  great  excitement  among  the  whites,  and  the  two 


Appendix 

parties  armed  against  each  other,  and  horrible  massacres 
and  conflagrations  followed.  Then  the  Assembly  rescinded 
this  last  decree,  and  like  results  followed,  the  blacks  being 
the  exasperated  parties  and  the  aggressors.  Then  the  decree 
giving  citizenship  to  the  blacks  was  restored,  and  commis 
sioners  were  sent  out  to  keep  the  peace.  The  commissioners, 
unable  to  sustain  themselves,  between  the  two  parties,  with 
the  troops  they  had,  issued  a  proclamation  that  all  blacks 
who  were  willing  to  range  themselves  under  the  banner  of 
the  Republic  should  be  free.  As  a  result  a  very  large  pro 
portion  of  the  blacks  became  in  fact  free.  In  1794,  the 
Conventional  Assembly  abolished  slavery  throughout  the 
French  Colonies.  Some  years  afterward,  the  French  Gov 
ernment  sought,  with  an  army  of  60,000  men,  to  reinstate 
slavery,  but  were  unsuccessful,  and  then  the  white  planters 
were  driven  from  the  Island. 

NOTE  29. — Vide  Jefferson's  Autobiography,  commenced 
January  6th,  1821.  JEFFERSON'S  Works,  vol.  i,  p.  49. 

NOTE  30. — "I  am  not  ashamed  or  afraid  publicly  to  avow 
that  the  election  of  William  H.  Seward  or  Salmon  P.  Chase, 
or  any  such  representative  of  the  Republican  party,  upon 
a  sectional  platform,  ought  to  be  resisted  to  the  disruption 
of  every  tie  that  binds  this  Confederacy  together.  (Ap 
plause  on  the  Democratic  side  of  the  House.) "  Mr.  Curry, 
of  Alabama,  in  the  House  of  Representatives. 

"Just  so  sure  as  the  Republican  party  succeed  in  electing 
a  sectional  man,  upon  their  sectional,  anti-slavery  platform, 
breathing  destruction  and  death  to  the  rights  of  my  people, 
just  so  sure,  in  my  judgment,  the  time  will  have  come 
when  the  South  must  and  will  take  an  unmistakable  and 
decided  action,  and  then  he  who  dallies  is  a  dastard,  and 
he  who  doubts  is  damned!  I  need  not  tell  what  I,  a  South 
ern  man,  will  do.  I  think  I  may  safely  speak  for  the  masses 
of  the  people  of  Georgia — that  when  that  event  happens, 
they,  in  my  judgment,  will  consider  it  an  overt  act,  a 
declaration  of  war,  and  meet  immediately  in  convention, 
to  take  into  consideration  the  mode  and  measure  ot  redress. 
That  is  my  position;  and  if  that  be  treason  to  the  Govern 
ment,  make  the  most  of  it." — Mr.  Gartell,  of  Georgia,  in 
the  House  of  Representatives. 


Notes  281 

"I  said  to  my  constituents,  and  to  the  people  of  the  capital 
of  my  State,  on  my  way  here,  if  such  an  event  did  occur," 
[*.  e.t  the  election  of  a  Republican  President,  upon  a  Repub 
lican  platform],  "while  it  would  be  their  duty  to  determine 
the  course  which  the  State  would  pursue,  it  would  be  my 
privilege  to  counsel  with  them  as  to  what  I  believed  to  be 
the  proper  course;  and  I  said  to  them,  what  I  say  now,  and 
what  I  will  always  say  in  such  an  event,  that  my  counsel 
would  be  to  take  independence  out  of  the  Unior.  in  pre 
ference  to  the  loss  of  constitutional  rights,  and  consequent 
degradation  and  dishonor,  in  it.  That  is  my  position,  and 
it  is  the  position  which  I  know  the  Democratic  party  of 
the  State  of  Mississippi  will  maintain." — Gov.  McRae,  of 
Mississippi. 

"It  is  useless  to  attempt  to  conceal  the  fact  that,  in  the 
present  temper  of  the  Southern  people,  it"  [i.  e.t  the  election 
of  a  Republican  President]  "cannot  be,  and  will  not  be, 
submitted  to.  The  'irrepressible  conflict'  doctrine,  an 
nounced  and  advocated  by  the  ablest  and  most  distinguished 
leader  of  the  Republican  party,  is  an  open  declaration  of 
war  against  the  institution  of  slavery,  wherever  it  exists; 
and  I  would  be  disloyal  to  Virginia  and  the  South,  if  I 
did  not  declare  that  the  election  of  such  a  man,  entertaining 
such  sentiment,  and  advocating  such  doctrines,  ought  to  be 
resisted  by  the  slaveholding  States.  The  idea  of  permitting 
such  a  man  to  have  the  control  and  direction  of  the  army 
and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  the  appointment  of 
high  judicial  and  executive  officers,  POSTMASTERS  INCLUDED, 
cannot  be  entertained  by  the  South  for  a  moment." — Gov. 
Letcher,  of  Virginia. 

"Slavery  must  be  maintained — in  the  Union,  if  possible; 
out  of  it,  if  necessary:  peaceably  if  we  may;  forcibly  if 
we  must." — Senator  Iverson,  of  Georgia. 

"Lincoln  and  Hamlin,  the  Black  Republican  nominees, 
will  be  elected  in  November  next,  and  the  South  will  then 
decide  the  great  question  whether  they  will  submit  to  the 
domination  of  Black  Republican  rule — the  fundamental 
principle  of  their  organization  being  an  open,  undisguised, 
and  declared  war  upon  our  social  institutions.  I  believe 
that  the  honor  and  safety  of  the  South,  in  that  contingency, 


282  Appendix 

will  require  the  prompt  secession  of  the  slaveholding  States 
from  the  Union;  and  failing  then  to  obtain  from  the  free 
States  additional  and  higher  guaranties  for  the  protection 
of  our  rights  and  property,  that  the  seceding  States  should 
proceed  to  establish  a  new  government.  But  while  I  think 
such  would  be  the  imperative  duty  of  the  South,  I  should 
emphatically  reprobate  and  repudiate  any  scheme  having 
for  its  object  the  separate  secession  of  South  Carolina.  If 
Georgia,  Alabama,  and  Mississippi  alone — giving  us  a  por 
tion  of  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coasts — would  unite  with  this 
State  in  a  common  secession  upon  the  election  of  a  Black 
Republican,  I  would  give  my  consent  to  the  policy." — Letter 
of  Hon.  James  L.  Orr,  of  S.  C.,  to  John  Martin  and  others , 
July  23,  1860. 

NOTE  3 1 . — The  Hon.  John  A.  Andrew,  of  the  Boston  Bar, 
made  the  following  analysis  of  the  Dred  Scott  case  in  the 
Massachusetts  Legislature.  Hon.  Caleb  Gushing  was  then 
a  member  of  that  body,  but  did  not  question  its  correctness. 

"On  the  question  of  possibility  of  citizenship  to  one  of 
the  Dred  Scott  color,  extraction,  and  origin,  three  Justices, 
viz.,  Taney,  Wayne,  and  Daniels,  held  the  negative.  Nelson 
and  Campbell  passed  over  the  plea  by  which  the  question 
was  raised.  Grier  agreed  with  Nelson.  Catron  said  the 
question  was  not  open.  McLean  agreed  with  Catron,  but 
thought  the  plea  bad.  Curtis  agreed  that  the  question  was 
open,  but  attacked  the  plea,  met  its  averments,  and  decided 
that  a  free-born  colored  person,  native  to  any  State,  is  a 
citizen  thereof  by  birth,  and  is  therefore  a  citizen  of  the 
Union,  and  entitled  to  sue  in  the  Federal  Courts. 

"Had  a  majority  of  the  court  directly  sustained  the  plea 
in  abatement,  and  denied  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Circuit 
Court  appealed  from,  then  all  else  they  could  have  said  and 
done  would  have  been  done  and  said  in  a  cause  not  theirs 
to  try  and  not  theirs  to  discuss.  In  the  absence  of  such  a 
majority,  one  step  more  was  to  be  taken.  And  the  next 
step  reveals  an  agreement  of  six  of  the  Justices,  on  a  point 
decisive  of  the  cause,  and  putting  an  end  to  all  the  functions 
of  the  court. 

"It  is  this.  Scott  was  first  carried  to  Rock  Island,  in 
the  State  of  Illinois,  where  he  remained  about  two  years, 


Notes  283 

before  going  with  his  master  to  Fort  Snelling,  in  the  Territory 
of  Wisconsin.  His  claim  to  freedom  was  rested  on  the 
alleged  effect  of  his  translation  from  a  slave  State,  and 
again  into  a  free  territory.  If,  by  his  removal  to  Illinois, 
he  became  emancipated  from  his  master,  the  subsequent 
continuance  of  his  pilgrimage  into  the  Louisiana  purchase 
could  not  add  to  his  freedom,  nor  alter  the  fact.  If,  by 
reason  of  any  want  or  infirmity  in  the  laws  of  Illinois,  or 
of  conformity  on  his  part  to  their  behests,  Dred  Scott  re 
mained  a  slave  while  he  remained  in  that  State,  then — for 
the  sake  of  learning  the  effect  on  him  of  his  territorial  resi 
dence  beyond  the  Mississippi,  and  of  his  marriage  and  other 
proceedings  there,  and  the  effect  of  the  sojournment  and 
marriage  of  Harriet,  in  the  same  territory,  upon  herself  and 
her  children — it  might  become  needful  to  advance  one  other 
step  into  the  investigation  of  the  law;  to  inspect  the  Missouri 
Compromise,  banishing  slavery  to  the  south  of  the  line  of 
36°  30'  in  the  Louisiana  purchase. 

"But  no  exigency  of  the  cause  ever  demanded  or  justified 
that  advance;  for  six  of  the  Justices,  including  the  Chief 
Justice  himself,  decided  that  the  status  of  the  plaintiff,  as 
free  or  slave,  was  dependent,  not  upon  the  laws  of  the  State 
in  which  he  had  been,  but  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  in  which 
he  was  at  the  commencement  of  the  suit.  The  Chief  Justice 
asserted  that  'it  is  now  firmly  settled  by  the  decisions  of 
the  highest  court  in  the  State,  that  Scott  and  his  family, 
on  their  return  were  not  free,  but  were,  by  the  laws  of  Mis 
souri,  the  property  of  the  defendant.'  This  was  the  burden 
of  the  opinion  of  Nelson,  who  declares  'the  question  is  one 
solely  depending  upon  the  law  of  Missouri,  and  that  the 
Federal  Court,  sitting  in  the  State,  and  trying  the  case 
before  us,  was  bound  to  follow  it.'  It  received  the  em 
phatic  endorsement  of  Wayne,  whose  general  concurrence 
was  with  the  Chief  Justice.  Grier  concurred  in  set  terms 
with  Nelson  on  all  'the  questions  discussed  by  him.'  Camp 
bell  says,  'The  claim  of  the  plaintiff  to  freedom  depends 
upon  the  effect  to  be  given  to  his  absence  from  Missouri, 
in  company  with  his  master  in  Illinois  and  Minnesota,  and 
this  effect  is  to  be  ascertained  by  reference  to  the  laws  of  Missouri.' 
Five  of  the  Justices,  then  (if  no  more  of  them),  regard  the 
law  of  Missouri  as  decisive  of  the  plaintiff's  rights." 


284  Appendix 

NOTE  32. — "Now,  as  we  have  already  said  in  an  earlier 
part  of  this  opinion  upon  a  different  point,  the  right  of 
property  in  a  slave  is  distinctly  and  expressly  affirmed 
in  the  Constitution.  The  right  to  traffic  in  it,  like  an  ordi 
nary  article  of  merchandise  and  property,  was  guaranteed 
to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  every  State  that 
might  desire  it,  for  twenty  years." — Ch.  J.  Taney,  19  How. 
U.  S.  R.,  p.  451.  Vide  language  of  Mr.  Madison,  note  34^ 
as  to  "merchandise." 

NOTE  33. — Not  only  was  the  right  of  property  not  intended 
to  be  "  distinctly  and  expressly  affirmed  in  the  Constitution"; 
but  the  following  extract  from  Mr.  Madison  demonstrates 
that  the  utmost  care  was  taken  to  avoid  so  doing: 

"The  clause  as  originally  offered  [respecting  fugitive 
slaves]  read,  'If  any  person  LEGALLY  bound  to  service  or 
labor  in  any  of  the  United  States  shall  escape  into  another 
State,"  etc.,  etc.  (Vol.  3,  p.  1456.)  In  regard  to  this,  Mr. 
Madison  says,  "The  term  'legally'  was  struck  out,  and  the 
words  'under  the  laws  thereof,'  inserted  after  the  word 
State,  in  compliance  with  the  wish  of  some  who  thought 
the  term  'legally'  equivocal  and  favoring  the  idea  that 
slavery  was  legal  in  a  moral  point  of  view." — Ib.,  p.  1589. 

NOTE  34. — We  subjoin  a  portion  of  the  history  alluded 
to  by  Mr.  Lincoln.  The  following  extract  relates  to  the 
provision  of  the  Constitution  relative  to  the  slave  trade. 
(Article  I,  Sec.  9.) 

2$th  August,  1787. — The  report  of  the  Committee  of  eleven 
being  taken  up,  Gen.  [Charles  Cotesworth]  Pinckney  moved 
to  strike  out  the  words  "the  year  1800,"  and  insert  the  words 
"the  year  1808." 

Mr.  Gorham  seconded  the  motion. 

Mr.  Madison — Twenty  years  will  produce  all  the  mischief 

that  can  be  apprehended  from  the  liberty  to  import  slaves. 

So   long  a    term  will  be  more  dishonorable  to  the  American 

character  than  to  say  nothing  about  it  in  the  Constitution. 

****** 

Mr.  Gouverneur  Morris  was  for  making  the  clause  read 
at  once — 

"The  importation  of  slaves  into  North  Carolina,  South 
Carolina,  and  Georgia,  shall  not  be  prohibited,"  etc. 


Notes  285 

This,  he  said,  would  be  most  fair,  and  would  avoid  the 
ambiguity  by  which,  under  the  power  with  regard  to  natural 
ization,  the  liberty  reserved  to  the  States  might  be  defeated. 
He  wished  it  to  be  known,  also,  that  this  part  of  the  Con 
stitution  was  a  compliance  with  those  States.  If  the  change 
of  language,  however,  should  be  objected  to  by  the  members 
from  those  States,  he  should  not  urge  it. 

Col.  Mason  (of  Virginia)  was  not  against  using  the  term 
"slaves,"  but  against  naming  North  Carolina,  South  Caro 
lina,  and  Georgia,  lest  it  should  give  offence  to  the  people 
of  those  States. 

Mr.  Sherman  liked  a  description  better  than  the  terms 
proposed,  which  had  been  declined  by  the  old  Congress 
and  were  not  pleasing  to  some  people. 

Mr.  Clymer  concurred  with  Mr.  Sherman. 

Mr.  Williamson,  of  North  Carolina,  said  that  both  in  opinion 
and  practice  he  was  against  slavery;  but  thought  it  more  in 
favor  of  humanity,  from  a  view  of  all  circumstances,  to  let 
in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  on  those  terms,  than  to  exclude 
them  from  the  Union. 

Mr.  Morris  withdrew  his  motion. 

Mr.  Dickinson  wished  the  clause  to  be  confined  to  the 
States  which  had  not  themselves  prohibited  the  importation 
of  slaves,  and  for  that  purpose  moved  to  amend  the  clause 
so  as  to  read — 

"The  importation  of  slaves  into  such  of  the  States  as 
shall  permit  the  same,  shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  Legis 
lature  of  the  United  States,  until  the  year  1808,"  which 
was  disagreed  to,  nem.  con. 

The  first  part  of  the  report  was  then  agreed  to  as  follows: 

"The  migration  or  importation  of  such  persons  as  the 
several  States  now  existing  shall  think  proper  to  admit, 
shall  not  be  prohibited  by  the  Legislature  prior  to  the  year 

1808." 

****** 

Mr.  Sherman  was  against  the  second  part  ["but  a  tax 
or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  migration  or  importation 
at  a  rate  not  exceeding  the  average  of  the  duties  laid  on  im 
ports'"},  as  acknowledging  men  to  be  property  by  taxing 
them  as  such  under  the  character  of  slaves. 


286  Appendix 

Mr.  Madison  thought  it  wrong  to  admit  in  the  Constitution 
the  idea  that  there  could  be  property  in  men.  The  reason  of 
duties  did  not  hold,  as  slaves  are  not,  like  merchandise, 
consumed. 

****** 

It  was  finally  agreed,  nem.  con.,  to  make  the  clause  read — 

"  But  a  tax  or  duty  may  be  imposed  on  such  importation, 
not  exceeding  ten  dollars  for  each  PERSON." — Madison 
Papers,  Aug.  25,  1787. 

NOTE  35. — Compare  this  noble  passage  and  that  at  page  18, 
with  the  twaddle  of  Mr.  Orr  (note  30),  and  the  slang  of 
Mr.  Douglas  (note  37). 

NOTE  36. — That  demand  has  since  been  made.  Says 
MR.  O 'CONOR,  counsel  for  the  State  of  Virginia  in  the  Lemon 
Case,  page  44 :"  We  claim  that  under  these  various  provisions 
of  the  Federal  Constitution,  a  citizen  of  Virginia  has  an 
immunity  against  the  operation  of  any  law  which  the 
State  of  New  York  can  enact,  whilst  he  is  a  stranger  and 
wayfarer,  or  whilst  passing  through  our  territory;  and 
that  he  has  absolute  protection  for  all  his  domestic  rights, 
and  for  all  his  rights  of  property,  which  under  the  laws 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  laws  of  his  own  State,  he 
was  entitled  to,  whilst  in  his  own  State.  We  claim  this, 
and  neither  more  NOR  LESS." 

Throughout  the  whole  of  that  case,  in  which  the  right 
to  pass  through  New  York  with  slaves  at  the  pleasure  of 
the  slave  owners  is  maintained,  it  is  nowhere  contended 
that  the  statute  is  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  New 
York;  but  that  the  statute  and  the  Constitution  of  the 
State  are  both  contrary  to  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

The  State  of  Virginia,  not  content  with  the  decision  of 
our  own  courts  upon  the  right  claimed  by  them,  is  now 
engaged  in  carrying  this,  the  Lemon  case,  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  hoping  by  a  decision  there, 
in  accordance  with  the  intimations  in  the  Dred  Scott  case, 
to  overthrow  the  Constitution  of  New  York. 

Senator  Toombs,  of  Georgia,  has  claimed,  in  the  Senate, 
that  laws  of  Connecticut,  Maine,  Massachusetts,  Michigan, 
New  Hampshire,  Ohio,  Rhode  Island,  Vermont,  and  Wisconsin, 


Notes  287 

for  the  exclusion  of  slavery,  conceded  to  be  warranted  by 
the  State  Constitutions,  are  contrary  to  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States,  and  has  asked  for  the  enactment  of 
laws  by  the  General  Government  which  shall  override  the 
laws  of  those  States  and  the  Constitutions  which  authorize 
them. 

NOTE  37. — "Policy,  humanity,  and  Christianity,  alike 
forbid  the  extension  of  the  evils  of  free  society  to  new  people 
and  coming  generations." — Richmond  Enquirer,  Jan.  22,  1856. 

"I  am  satisfied  that  the  mind  of  the  South  has  undergone 
a  change  to  this  great  extent,  that  it  is  now  the  almost 
universal  belief  in  the  South,  not  only  that  the  condition 
of  African  slavery  in  their  midst,  is  the  best  condition 
to  which  the  African  race  has  ever  been  subjected,  but 
that  it  has  the  effect  of  ennobling  both  races,  the  white  and 
the  black." — Senator  Mason,  of  Virginia. 

"I  declare  again,  as  I  did  in  reply  to  the  Senator  from 
Wisconsin  (Mr.  Doolittle),  that,  in  my  opinion,  slavery  is 
a  great  moral,  social,  and  political  blessing — a  blessing  to 
the  slave,  and  a  blessing  to  the  master." — Mr.  Brown,  in 
the  Senate,  March  6,  1860. 

"I  am  a  Southern  States'  Rights  man;  I  am  an  African 
slave-trader.  I  am  one  of  those  Southern  men  who  believe 
that  slavery  is  right — morally,  religiously,  socially,  and 
politically."  (Applause.)  ...  "I  represent  the  African 
Slave-trade  interests  of  that  section.  (Applause.)  I  am 
proud  of  the  position  I  occupy  in  that  respect.  I  believe 
the  African  Slave-trader  is  a  true  missionary  and  a  true 
Christian."  (Applause.) — Mr.  Gaulden,  a  delegate  from  First 
Congressional  District  of  Georgia,  in  the  Charleston  Convention, 
now  a  supporter  of  Mr.  Douglas. 

"Ladies  and  gentlemen,  I  would  gladly  speak  again,  but 
you  see  from  the  tones  of  my  voice  that  I  am  unable  to. 
This  has  been  a  happy,  a  glorious  day.  I  shall  never  forget 
it.  There  is  a  charm  about  this  beautiful  day,  about  this 
sea  air,  and  especially  about  that  peculiar  institution  of 
yours — a  clam  bake.  I  think  you  have  the  advantage, 
in  that  respect,  of  Southerners.  For  my  own  part,  I 
have  much  more  fondness  for  your  clams  than  I  have 
for  their  niggers.  But  every  man  to  his  taste." — Hon. 


288  Appendix 

Stephen  A.  Douglas's  Address  at  Rocky  Point,  R.  /.,  Aug. 
2,  1860. 

NOTE  38. — It  is  interesting  to  observe  how  two  profoundly 
logical  minds,  though  holding  extreme,  opposite  views,  have 
deduced  this  common  conclusion.  Says  Mr.  O'Conor,  the 
eminent  leader  of  the  New  York  Bar,  and  the  counsel  for 
the  State  of  Virginia  in  the  Lemon  case,  in  his  speech  at 
Cooper  Institute,  December  igth,  1859: 

"That  is  the  point  to  which  this  great  argument  must 
come — Is  negro  slavery  unjust?  If  it  is  unjust,  it  violates 
that  first  rule  of  human  conduct — 'Render  to  every  man 
his  due.'  If  it  is  unjust,  it  violates  the  law  of  God 
which  says,  'Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself,'  for  that  requires 
that  we  should  perpetrate  no  injustice.  Gentlemen,  if  it 
could  be  maintained  that  negro  slavery  was  unjust,  perhaps 
I  might  be  prepared — perhaps  we  all  ought  to  be  prepared — 
to  go  with  that  distinguished  man  to  whom  allusion  is 
frequently  made,  and  say,  '  There  is  a  higher  law  which  com 
pels  us  to  trample  beneath  our  feet  the  Constitution  estab 
lished  by  our  fathers,  with  all  the  blessings  it  secures  to 
their  children.'  But  I  insist — and  that  is  the  argument 
which  we  must  meet,  and  on  which  we  must  come  to  a 
conclusion  that  shall  govern  our  actions  in  the  future  selec 
tion  of  representatives  in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States — 
I  insist  that  negro  slavery  is  not  unjust.'' 


INDEX 


Andersonville,  responsibility 

for,  190 

Andrew,  John  A.,  105 
Antietam,  battle  of,  115 
Appomattox,    the  surrender 

at,  177  ff. 
Atlanta,  capture  of,  151 


B 


Bahamas,  trade  of  the,  with 

the  Confederacy,  167  ff. 
Banks,  General  N.  P.,  103 
Bazaine,    General,    in    com 
mand  of  French  army   in 
Mexico,  156 

Belle  Isle,  the  prison  of,  189 
Bentonville,  battle  of,  183 
Bixby,  Mrs.,  letter  to,  from 

Lincoln,  152 
"  Black    Republicans,"    the, 

250 
Blair,   Frank   P.,   difficulties 

with,  161 

Blount,  William,  237 
Border  States,  the,  and  eman 
cipation,  114  ff. 
Bragg,  Gen.  Braxton,i36  ff. 
Brainerd,     Cephas,     on    the 
Cooper  Union  address,  211 
Brown,  John,  raid  of,  254 
Bryant  on  Lincoln,  202 
Buckner,  Gen.  S.  B.,  99 
Bull  Run,  second  battle  of, 

122 

Burnside,  Gen.  Ambrose  F., 
and  the  Army  of  the  Poto 
mac,  127;  and  the  defence 
of  Knoxville,  137 

19 


Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  '03, 120 


Cabinet,  cabals  in  the,  160 

Cedar  Creek,  the  battle  of, 
150  ff. 

Chancellorsville,  ^battle  of, 
129 

Charleston,  evacuation  of, 
169 

Chase,  Salmon  P.,  and  the 
Presidential  election  of 
1864,  r54;  resignation  of, 
154;  appointed  chief  jus 
tice,  155;  efforts  of,  for  the 
Presidency,  157;  difficulties 
with,  in  the  Cabinet,  161 

Chickamauga,  battle  of,  136 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  223 

Congress  and  slavery  in  the 
Territories,  246  ff. 

Constitution,  the  1 3th  amend 
ment  to,  163  ff . ;  denned  by 
Lincoln,  236  ff.;  and  prop 
erty  in  slaves,  260  ff. 

"Crocker,  Master,"  113 

Curtin,  Gov.  A.  G.,  105 

Curtis,  Gen.  S.  R.,  108 


Danville,  the  prison  of,  147, 
189  ff.;  mortality  in,  159 

Davis,  Jefferson,  and  Benj. 
F.  Butler,  120;  and  the 
Peace  Conference  of  Feb., 
1865,  163;  capture  of,  187: 
and  the  other  leaders  of 
the  South,  189;  and  the 
management  of  the  South- 
289 


290 


Index 


Davis,  Jefferson — Continued 
ern   prisons,    190    ff;  as  a 
prisoner  and  martyr,  191 

Douglas,  Stephen  A.,  and  the 
debate  with  Lincoln,  cited, 
235;  and  the  sedition  act, 
263;  and  the  Dred  Scott 
decision,  246 

Dred  Scott  case,  the,  246 


E 


Early,  Jubal  A.,  raid  of  on 

Washington,    142   ff.;    and 
the  battle   of  Winchester, 
149;  and  the  battle  of  Ce 
dar  Creek,  150 
Elliott,  Charles  W.,  213 
Emancipation  Proclamation, 

the,  115  ff. 

Enfield  rifles,  use  of,  by  Con 
federates,  146 


Farragut,  Admiral  D.  G.,  in 
Few,  William,  237 
Fisher,  Fort,  capture  of,  167 
Fitzsimmons,  Thomas,   238 
Floyd,  General  John  B.,  99 
Franklin,  battle  of,  151  ff. 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  245 


Georgia,  cession  of  territory 

by,  239 
Gettysburg,     campaign     of, 

I32ff. 

Goldsborough,    surrender    of 

Johnston's  army  at,  183 
Goodell,  Dr.  Wm.,  212 
Grant,  Gen.  U.  S.,  captures 
Fort  Donelson,  99;  and  the 
Vicksburg  campaign,  134; 
and  the  Chattanooga  cam 
paign,  136;  commander  of 
the  armies,  137  ff.;  sug 
gested  for  the  Presidency, 
157;  declines  to  consider 
terms  of  peace,  171;  at 


Appomattox,  177  ff.;  at 
Goldsborough,  184  ff. 

Greeley,  Horace,  105 

Greene,  Frank  V.,  on  Lin 
coln,  106 


Halleck,  Gen.  H.  W.,  103 
Hallowell,  Col.  Norwood,  116 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  245 
Hancock,  Gen.  W.  S.,  127 
Harper's    Ferry,    124;    John 

Brown's  raid  at,  254 
Helper,  H.  R.,  the  "Impend 
ing  Crisis"  of,  258 
Hewitt,  Abram  S.,  99  ff. 
Higginson,  Col.  T.  W.,  116 
Hood,  Gen.  John  B.,  151  ff. 
Hooker,    Gen.    Joseph,    107, 
127,  130  ff.,  137 


Intervention  of  France  and 
England  threatened,  122 

J 

Jefferson, Thomas,  on  emanci 
pation,  257 

Johnston,  Gen.  Joseph  E., 
138,  151,  169,  183  ff. 


King,  Rufus,  241 
Knoxville,  siege  of,  137 


Lee,  Gen.  Robert  E.  and  the 
Antietam  campaign,  122; 
and  the  campaign  of  Get 
tysburg,  130  ff. ;  and  the 
defence  of  Virgina,  137  ff.; 
proposes  treaty  of  peace, 
171;  defeated  at  Five 
Forks,  171;  at  Appomat 
tox,  171 


Index 


291 


i/ibby  prison,  Presidential 
election  in,  158;  mortality 
in,  159;  record  of,  189  ff. 

Lincoln,  Abraham,  and  Hew 
itt,  A.  S.,  100  ff.;  writes 
to  "Master  Crocker,"  113; 
as  commander-in-chief ,  103 
ff.;  and  the  death  penalty 
for  soldiers,  119;  cam 
paign  methods  of  McClel- 
lan,  125!!.;  letter  of,  ap 
pointing  Hooker,  128;  to 
Grant  on  the  fall  of  Vicks- 
burg,  134;  address  of,  at 
Gettysburg,  134;  letter  of, 
to  Mrs.  Bixby,  152;  re 
election  of,  as  President, 
157;  and  the  exchange  of 
prisoners,  1586°.;  and  the 
control  of  the  administra 
tion,  1 60;  and  the  Peace 
Conference  of  Feb.,  1865, 
162  ff. ;  second  inaugural  of, 
169  ft'.;  last  public  address 
of,  178;  death  of,  181; 
and  the  proposed  cap 
ture  of  Jefferson  Davis,  1 88 ; 
death  of,  reported  to  the 
army  at  Goldsborough, 
190;  comparison  of,  with 
Washington  and  Jackson, 
195  ff.;  Cooper  Union  ad 
dress  of,  205  ff.;  writes  to 
Nott,  225  ff. 

Lincoln,  Robert,  on  the 
Cooper  Union  address,  209 

Longstreet,  Gen.  James,  133, 

J37 
Lookout  Mountain,  battle  of, 

137 

Louisiana,  purchase  of,  240 
Lowell  on  Lincoln,  202 

M 

Maximilian,  Prince,  and  the 
invasion  of  Mexico,  156 

McClellan,  Gen.  George  B., 
102  ff.;  and  the  Antietam 
campaign,  122  ff.;  ordered 
to  report  to  New  Jersey,  126 


Meade,  Gen.  Geo.  G.,  127,  131 
Miflflin,  Thomas,  237 
Milliken's  Bend,  battle  of ,  1 1 8 
Minnesota,  troops  from,  165; 

university  of,  167 
Missionary  Ridge,  battle  of, 

.J3.7  . 
Mississippi,    organisation    of 

the  Territory  of,  240 
Missouri,  admission  of,  241 
Missouri    Compromise,     the, 

3i,  38 
Monocacy  Creek,    battle   of, 

*43 

Morgan,  Gen.  John,  177 
Morris,  Gouverneur,  245 

N 

Napoleon,  Louis,  and  the  in 
vasion  of  Mexico,  156 

Nashville,  battle  of,  151  ff. 

Nation,  the  London,  on  the 
character  of  Lincoln,  198  ff. 

New  Orleans,  capture  of,  1 1 1 
ff. 

Nineteenth  Army  Corps  and 
Early's  raid,  145 

North  Carolina,  cession  of 
territory  by,  239 

Northwestern  Territory,  the, 
of  the  U.  S.,  237 

Nott,  Chas.  C.,  introduc 
tion  to  the  Cooper  Union 
address,  215  ff.;  letter  of, 
to  Lincoln,  224  ff. 

Noyes,  Wm.  Curtis,  212 


Ordinance  of  1787,  238  ff. 
P 

Pea  Ridge,  battle  of,  108 
Peace   Conference    of    Feb., 

1865,  162 

Pickett,  Gen.  G.  E.,  133 
Pinckney,  Charles,  241  ff. 
Pope,  Gen.  John,  103,  122 
Port  Hudson,  surrender  of, 


292 


Index 


Presidential  election  in  Libby 

prison,  158 
Prisoners,    the    exchange  of, 

158 

Putnam,  George  Palmer,  and 
the  Cooper  Union  address, 

212 


R 


Reagan,  Postmaster-general, 

at  Goldsborough,  184 
Reconstruction,         Lincoln's 

views  on,  180  ff. 
Republican   party,   the,   and 

slavery  in  the  Territories, 

249  ff. 
Republican  Union,  the  Young 

Men's,  223,  232 
Reynolds,  Gen.  J.  T.,  127 
Rosecrans,  Gen.  Wm.  S.,  and 

the  Chattanooga  campaign, 

136 
Rutledge,  John,  245 


Schechter,  Rabbi,  on  the 
character  of  Lincoln,  200 

Schofield,  Gen.  Geo.  W.,  152 

Schurz,  Carl,  on  the  character 
of  Lincoln,  201 

Seward,  W.  H.,  64,  160 

Sharp's  breech-loaders  intro 
duced  in  1864,  146 

Shaw,  Col.  R.  G.,  116 

Shenandoah,  campaign  in 
the  valley  of  the,  149 

Sheridan,  Gen.  Philip,  in  the 
Shenandoah,  149  ff.;  wins 
battle  of  Five  Forks,  171 

Sherman,  Roger,  237 

Sherman,  Gen.  Wm.  T.,  at 
Missionary  Ridge,  137;  cap 
tures  Atlanta,  151;  and  the 
Georgia  planter,  164;  passes 
by  Charleston,  169;  at 
Goldsborough,  183  ff. 

Sigel,  Gen.  Franz,  108 


Smith,  Gen.  Kirby,  surrender 
of,  191 

Soldiers  authorised  to  vote  in 

presidential  election,   152 
Southampton,      insurrection 

at,  256 
South    Mountain,    battle    of 

the,  124 
Stanton,  Edwin,  M.,  65,  101 

ff,  185 
Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  and 

the    Peace    Conference    of 

Feb.,  1865,  162  ff. 
Sumter,  Fort,  restoration  of 

the  flag  on,  182 


Taylor,    Gen.    Richard,    sur 
render  of,  191 
Thomas,  Gen.  Geo.  H.,  136 


Vicksburg,  surrender  of,  112, 


W 

Wallace,  Gen.  Lew,  143 
Washington       assailed.       by 

Early,  142  ff. 
Washington,  George,  and  the 

Ordinance    of     1787,    239; 

Farewell  Address  of,  252; 

the  example  of,  266 
Weitzel,  Gen.  Godfrey,  119 
Whittier  on  Lincoln,  201 
Wilderness,    battle    of    the, 

140  ff. 

Williamson,  Hugh,  237 
Wilmington,  capture  of,  167 
Winchester,  third  battle  of, 

149 
Winder,  Gen.,  and  the  man 

agement  of  the  Southern 

prisons,  190 

Wisconsin,  troops  from,   165 
Wisewell,  Col.  F.  H.,  144  ff. 


M  Selection  from  the 
Catalogue  of 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


Complete  Catalogues  sent 
on  application 


By  George  Haven  Putnam,  Litt.D. 

The   Censorship   of  the    Church 
of  Rome 

And   Its   Influence   upon   the    Production   and 
Distribution  of  Literature 

A  Study  of  the  History  of  the  Prohibitory  and  Expurgatory  In 
dexes,  together  with  some  Consideration  of  the  Effects  of  Protestant 
Censorship  and  of  Censorship  by  the  State. 

Two    volumes,    8vo.     Uniform    with  "Books   and   Their 
Makers."     Per  volume,  net,  $2.50 

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of  remarkable  erudition,  and  so  far  as  I  have  perused  its  pages,    I   find  it  to 

have  been   written   with    rare    large-mindedness  and    historic    impartiality. 

.      The   difficult    task    has    been  accomplished    in     a    most    masterly 

manner." — From  Archbishop  Ireland*  of  St.  Paul. 

The  Question  of  Copyright 

Comprising  the  text  of  the  Copyright  Law  of  the  United  States, 
and  a  summary  of  the  Copyright  Laws  at  present  in  force  in  the 
chief  countries  of  the  world  ;  together  with  a  report  of  the  legisla 
tion  now  pending  in  Great  Britain,  a  sketch  of  the  contest  in  the 
United  States,  1837-1891,  in  behalf  of  International  Copyright,  and 
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property  and  on  the  results  of  the  American  law  of  1891. 

Second  Edition,  revised,  with  additions,  and  with  the 
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is  as  interesting  as  it  is  valuable. — N.  Y.  Nation. 

Abraham  Lincoln 

The  People's  Leader  in  the  Struggle  for 
National   Existence 

Crown  8vo.     With  Portrait 

Major  Putnam  has  utilized  an  address  given  by  him  on  the  Centennial 
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which  presents  the  main  events  in  the  career  of  the  people's  leader.  The 
development  of  Lincoln's  character  and  the  growth  of  his  powers  from  boy 
hood  through  his  work  at  the  Bar,  in  his  service  as  a  leader  in  the  political 
contests  that  preceded  the  war  for  the  restriction  of  slavery,  and  his  final 
service  to  the  country  as  War  President  and  commander-in-chief  of  its  forces, 
are  recorded  in  outline,  but  with  such  measure  of  comprehensiveness  as 
serves  to  make  the  picture  and  the  record  practically  complete. 

Send  for  descriptive  circular 
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By  George  Haven  Putnam,  Litt.D. 

Authors  and  Their  Public  in 
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Books  and  Their  Makers  during 
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Seventh  Edition,  re-written  with  additional  material. 
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Gettysburg  and  Lincoln 

The  Battle,  the  Cemetery,  and 
the  National  Park 

By  Henry  Sweetser  Burrage 

Brevet  Major  U.  S.  Vols. 

With  27  Full-page  Illustrations  and  3  Battle  Plans. 
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Gettysburg  will  always  be  famous  as  one  of  the  great  battle 
fields  of  the  world,  and  as  the  place  where  was  fought  the 
decisive  battle  of  the  Civil  War.  The  victory  there  won  for  the 
Union  Cause  was  commemorated  by  the  establishing  of  the 
beautiful  National  Park  in  which  is  the  Cemetery  that  contains 
the  graves  and  monuments  of  the  soldiers  who  then  gave  their 
lives  for  their  country — a  spot  that  will  always  be  the  goal  of 
patriotic  pilgrims.  The  consecration  of  the  Cemetery  was  the 
occasion  of  Lincoln's  famous  Address,  which  ranks  among  the 
great  historic  speeches  of  the  world,  and  which  is,  in  the  simple 
grandeur  and  nobility  of  its  eloquence,  so  essentially  characteristic 
of  the  man.  Major  Burrage,  himself  a  War  veteran,  brings  together 
in  this  volume,  which  is  illustrated,  and  equipped  with  tactical 
maps,  the  records  of  the  Battle,  the  Park,  the  Cemetery,  and  the 
Lincoln  Address. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
New  York  London 


Constitutional  Edition 


The  Writings  of 
Abraham  Lincoln 

Including  the  full  text  of  the  Lincoln-Douglas  Debates, 

together  with  the  Essay  on  Lincoln,  by  CARL 

SCHURZ,  the  Address  on  Lincoln,  by 

JOSEPH   H.   CHOATE,  and 

the  Life  of  Lincoln,  by 

NOAH  BROOKS 

Edited  by  ARTHUR  BROOKS  LAPSLEY 

With  an  Introduction  by  PRESIDENT  ROOSEVELT 

8  Volumes,  Cloth,  $2O.OO  per  set 
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The  works  of  Lincoln  hold  a  deservedly  high  place  in 
American  Literature,  and  this  edition  has  been  planned  with 
the  object  of  presenting  them  in  a  handsome  library  edition, 
at  a  moderate  price. 

One  volume  of  the  set  is  devoted  to  the  Life  of  Lincoln, 
by  Noah  Brooks,  which  has  been  accepted  as  the  standard 
biography  of  Lincoln,  presenting  in  compact  narrative  a  sober, 
discriminating  record  of  Lincoln's  public  services  and  private 
life. 

The  Writings  of  Lincoln  cover  his  public  addresses, 
letters,  and  other  documents,  together  with  a  large  number  of 
more  personal  letters  and  speeches. 

The  Editor  has  been  able  to  secure  for  this  edition,  from 
Historical  Associations  and  through  the  courtesy  of  private 
collectors,  certain  interesting  and  important  material  not 
before  brought  into  print  in  book  form. 

The  Editor  has  also  supplied  occasional  brief  foot-notes 
throughout  the  text  which,  without  making  the  work  pedantic, 
or  introducing  a  jarring  note,  will  elucidate  difficult  passages 
and  call  the  reader's  attention  to  interesting  facts. 

Send  for  descriptive  circular 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

Ne-w  "YorK  London 


THE 

LINCOLN  CENTENNIAL 
MEDAL 

A  Volume  presenting  the  famous  Roine  Medal, 

together  with  the  most  noteworthy  and 

characteristic  utterances  of 

Abraham  Lincoln. 

BRONZE  EDITION. — Crown  8vof  with  the  medal  in 
bronze,  2*4  inches  in  diameter,  mounted  artistically  on  boards, 
$5.00  net. 

SILVER  EDITION. — 8vo,  with  the  medal  in  silver,  artist 
cally  mounted  on  boards.  Limited  to  100  signed  and  num* 
bered  copies,  $12,00  net, 

The  exquisite  medal  of  Lincoln,  designed  expressly  for  the 
Lincoln  Centennial,  by  E.  F.  Roine,  the  well-known  medallist  of 
Paris,  is  presented  in  this  volume  mounted  in  an  artistic  and  dis 
tinctive  manner.  The  following  characteristic  Lincoln  papers 
are  associated  with  the  medal : 

Letter  to  Horace  Greeley  of  August,  1862,  in  regard  to  the 
question  of  Emancipation. 

Letter  to  Gen.  Joseph  Hooker,  of  January,  1863,  at  the  time 
of  Hooker's  appointment  to  command  the  Army  of  the  Potomac. 

Letter  of  ^November,  1864,  to  Mrs.  Bixby,  the  mother  of  five 
sons  who  had  been  killed  during  the  War. 

The  Second  Inaugural  Address  delivered  March  4,  1864. 

The  Emancipation  Proclamation  of  September  22,  1862. 

The  Gettysburg  Address,  November,  1862. 
To  these  papers  are  added  : 

The  Lincoln  Centennial,  a  critical  essay,  by  Richard  Lloyd 
Jones. 

The  Lincoln  Medal  and  the  work  as  medallist  of  Edouard  F. 
Roine,  by  Prof.  Geo.  N.  Olcott,  of  Columbia  University. 

On  the  1 2th  of  February,  iqog,  the  dies  of  the  medal  are  to 
be  cancelled  and  then  deposited  in  the  collection  of  the  American 
Numismatic  Society.  After  that  date  no  more  copies  of  the  medal 
or  of  the  book  containing  the  medal  can  be  produced. 

Q.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 

New  York  London 


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